§ Mr. BattleTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on commercial logging in tropical rain forests in the light of the International Tropical Timber Organisation council meeting in Japan.
§ Mrs. ChalkerThe International Tropical Timber Organisation's remit is to promote the expansion and diversification of international trade in tropical timber and to encourage the development of national policies aimed at sustainable utilisation and conservation of tropical forests and their genetic resources. At the last meeting of the International Tropical Timber Organisation in Japan in November 1990, the council reaffirmed its commitment to sustainable forest development. The council confirmed the International Tropical Timber Organisation's target of the year 2000 for all trade in tropical timber to come from sustainable sources and the principles embodied in the International Tropical Timber Organisation guidelines for best management practice of natural tropical forests including logging. To help promote the guidelines more widely, the International Tropical Timber Organisation agreed to host a world conference of senior foresters in July 1991.
At the next council meeting in Quito in May there will be a round table discussion on incentives for tropical timber producing countries to adopt sustainable forest management policies. This will be informed by a study commissioned by the International Tropical Timber Organisation from the Oxford forestry institute and financed by my Department.