Gerhard Dieterle is the Executive Director of ITTO with Headquarters in Yokohama/Japan. ITTO’s goals are to promote the expansion and diversification of international trade in tropical timber from sustainably managed and legally harvested forests and to promote the sustainable management of tropical timber producing forests Until recently, over a period of about 18 years, he was the World Bank’s Forest Adviser and Program Manager for the Forest Investment Program (FIP) and the Dedicated Grant Mechanism for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (DGM) and for several years he also led the World Bank forestry program in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia region. As the World Bank’s Forestry Adviser he was responsible for the Bank’s overall forest policies and strategies, external relations and partnerships.
In the earlier years of his career he held different positions in the German Forest Service, in GIZ overseas assignments in Togo and Indonesia, the European Commission, and at the Forest Faculty of Freiburg/Germany.
Overall, he has more than 35 years of experience in national and international forest and environmental and development policies. His focus is to preserve unique forest resources in harmony with sustainable use for equitable development and to build bridges between Local and Global. He holds a Master’s of Science degree in Forestry and a PhD in technical and economic analyses of sustainable forest management systems.