Governance FSC AC / Geoff Howe FSC balances the needs of all forest stakeholders – environmental, social, and economic – through an open, member-led democracy. FSC AC / Geoff Howe The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is the pioneer of a multi-stakeholder governance system that gives equal weight to economic, environmental, and social chambers. FSC is governed by a global network of over 1,000 individuals and member organizations representing environmental, social, and economic perspectives. Members come from both the Global North and Global South and range from NGOs to forest management companies and Indigenous Peoples’ organizations. FSC is also the only forest certification system with an integrated accreditation programme that systematically verifies its certification bodies. For these reasons, FSC is widely regarded as the most credible and effective forest certification system. Learn more about how the FSC system works here. FSC / Jonathan Perugia Our Global Leadership Led by Director General, Ms. Subhra Bhattacharjee, FSC’s global leadership includes an International Board of Directors, Policy and Standards Committee, and Permanent Indigenous Peoples Committee. Learn about our leadership → Fundamentally Balanced Governance FSC's highest decision-making body is the General Assembly, composed of all FSC members, which meets every three years to set policy and vote on organizational direction. Members join one of three chambers – environmental, social, or economic – each holding equal voting weight (33.3%), and each chamber splits votes equally between North and South sub-chambers. Within each sub-chamber, individual members hold 10% of the vote and organizational members hold 90%. The General Assembly elects the Board of Directors, which governs FSC between assemblies and is accountable to the membership. This tri-chamber, balanced-voting structure is designed to prevent any single interest group from dominating FSC policy decisions.
