A new 10-year agreement to help promote the sustainable development of tropical forests has been signed by 33 importing and exporting nations.
The pact, which replaces the 1994 International Tropical Timber Agreement, was finalised after two weeks of talks by the UN Conference on Trade and Development.
It calls on signatories to support tropical timber reforestation and share information on forestry management.
Other features include guidelines for conserving biodiversity, fire management and recovery of degraded land.
The pact, to be managed by the International Tropical Timber Organisation, is a response to growing deforestation in tropical forest countries, with 15 million ha being lost annually.
