Sustainable Forest Management in Tropics Increasing

More of the world's tropical forests are being placed under management plans, however, less than 10 percent of these forests are being managed sustainably, according to a recent study from the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO).

Even with the murky data, the ITTO report paints a picture of general improvement in tropical forest management. Among the reports key findings are:

• In most of the ITTO's 33 member countries throughout Africa, Central America, South America and East Asia, deforestation rates between 2005 and 2010 were generally well below one percent.
• The area of certified natural forests for production increased in each region between 2005 and 2010.
• The area of forests under sustainable management increased about 20 percent between 2005 and 2010, from 25.2 million hectares to 30.6 hectares.

However, even the ITTO acknowledges that its report data is "unreliable or, at best, inconsistent." "Few developing countries in the tropics have funds for regular forest inventories, so even basic information on forest extent and condition is at best outdated and often non-existent," reads a sentence from the report's opening paragraph.

The full report can be viewed below: