[1] The organization was established under the International Tropical Timber Agreement (ITTA), which was sponsored by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and was ratified in 1985.

[4] The ITTO was at first primarily a commodity organization, regulating the international trade in tropical timber.

In 1990 the ITTC proposed that by 2000 all exports of tropical timber would come from sustainably managed sources, and this goal was adopted.

[4] In 1987 the ITTO commissioned the Harvard Institute for International Development to prepare a review of current knowledge of multiple-use management of tropical forests.

[5] The ITTO publishes a quarterly newsletter, Tropical Forest Update (ISSN 1022-5439), available also online.