19 December 2014, Foresteurope news- The International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) has recently approved Voluntary Guidelines for the Sustainable Management of Natural Tropical Forests that update and replace the original ITTO Guidelines for the Sustainable Management of Natural Tropical Forests, which were published in 1990.

The new Guidelines constitute an international reference for the development and improvement of national and subnational guidelines for the sustainable management of natural tropical forests. They provide technical guidance on the management of individual forest management units, set out seven principles of sustainable forest management, guidelines within these principles, and suggested actions for the implementation of each guideline.

ITTO will undertake in 2015 a review of its criteria and indicators (C&I) for the sustainable management of tropical forests to reflect the overall framework presented in the Guidelines. The C&I are a tool for monitoring, reporting on and assessing forest management. The review will also take account of experiences in implementing the ITTO C&I over the past decade, information gained through a series of national C&I training workshops, and developments in other C&I processes including FOREST EUROPE.

Source: http://www.foresteurope.org/news/new-sfm-guidelines-approved-itto-revision-ci-underway