Tripartite MOU sets the stage for Chinese Taipei's first FSC Ecosystem Services Verified Impact demonstration

At the FSC 2026 Taiwan Summit in Taipei, held under the theme Deepening Roots, Creating Impact Together, FSC, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency (FANCA), and the Miaoli County Saisiyat Indigenous Peoples Forestry and Worker Limited Liability Cooperative signed a tripartite MOU to launch Chinese Taipei's first FSC Ecosystem Services Verified Impact demonstration site on the Indigenous Peoples' Reserved Land of the Saisiyat Ponglai community in Nanzhuang, Miaoli.

The Saisiyat Cooperative also became the region's first FSC organizational member in 2026, built on years of community-led forest stewardship grounded in traditional ecological knowledge.

What the MOU covers

FANCA leads ecological monitoring and contributes forest inventory data, maps, and biodiversity records from the Nanzhuang Ponglai area. The forests hold an FSC Forest Management Certificate covering 1.56 million hectares, representing 71% of the total forest area in the region, and the highest FSC certification rate in Asia. FSC provides technical guidance through its international expert networks. The Saisiyat Cooperative grants site access, contributes traditional knowledge, and conducts on-the-ground ecological surveys.

The three parties will follow the FSC Ecosystem Services Procedure (FSC-PRO-30-006) through site selection, ecosystem service identification, data collection, independent verification, and a final Ecosystem Service Report. Verified outcomes are intended to attract corporate ESG investment and establish a replicable model for natural capital recognition across the region.

"What stands out is not only the scale, but how it was built, through genuine collaboration between forest authorities, Indigenous communities, and the private sector, with valuable insights for other regions and contexts." Niamh Brannigan, Communications Director, FSC 

Joining via video address, FSC Director General Dr. Subhra Bhattacharjee called on participants to view FSC certification as "a platform for creating measurable, positive change." FANCA Director General Hwa-Ching Lin affirmed that the collaboration will bring forest governance experience from the region to international decision-making forums on forest stewardship and long-term forest restoration.

At the summit

Morning sessions addressed forest governance and the practice of ecosystem services. The afternoon gave industry leaders the floor on market application.

Roger Wu, Taiwan and Hong Kong Business Director at Kimberly-Clark Professional, shared how rising consumer demand for verified sustainability is reshaping product strategy and where certification fits into building lasting market trust. 

Tsai Chi Kuo, Secretary General of the Taiwan Institute for Sustainable Energy, showed how double materiality places forests at the centre of the value chain, carrying financial, social, and reputational consequences across it. 

Helen Too, FSC Senior Director Markets, made the case that certification is not an endpoint – it is what gives businesses verified credibility to meet regulatory demands, earn customer trust, and access markets where responsible sourcing is a condition of entry.

Day Two: Nanzhuang Ponglai

For 60 years, the Saisiyat people of Penglai Village lived beside a forest that could not sustain them economically. Since their first partnership agreement with FANCA in 2018, that has changed. The co-management model has shown tangible results: stable incomes, more than 1,600 traditional Saisiyat plant species restored to native forest, diversified understory industries, and young people returning to the community.

One detail from the field visit stood out: the Saisiyat maintain a strict ceiling of 250 hives across no more than 10 farms. The limit keeps production in balance with the biodiversity that shares the forest, and the hives themselves serve as ecological indicators of forest health.

We will continue to follow the progress of this initiative as verification work gets underway.