TSC has a vast area of land resources and has cooperated with the government’s afforestation policy for the greening of idle land since 1997. As of December in 2023, the area for afforestation and tending has amounted to 11,541 hectares in total, including afforestation for all (396 hectares), environmentally friendly forests(363 hectares), self-funded afforestation(418 hectares) and flatland afforestation(10,364 hectares). The afforestation land is mowed manually or mechanically, and the herbicides are not applied.
Among them, the afforestation of flat land originated from the adjustment of afforestation policy and also as the corresponding measure for the large amount of fallow land caused by the great impact of international price competition on our agricultural products after Taiwan’s entry into World Trade Organization (WTO). According to the Fourth National Forest Resources Survey and Land Utilization Survey conducted by the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency, the forest coverage rate of Taiwan increased from 58.5% to 60.7% in 20 years, which is double the number of the global average, ranked 7th in Asia. This shows that the implementation of the flat land afforestation policy has indeed achieved significant effect on the increase of the area of afforestation in Taiwan.
Despite the fact that the 20-year flat land afforestation subsidy is about to expire, TSC will still adheres to the initial vision of the development of the flat land afforestation plan- to improve the quality of people’s living environment and to serve recreational and education functions. To respond to the FANCA’s goals of “agricultural and forestry eco-tourism,” “increased habitat environment of wild animals,” “biodiversity,” etc., we combine forest recreation with forest management to create the best choice for environmental education and domestic in-depth tourism in the Aogu Wetland in Chiayi County, the Linhousihlin Forest Park in Pingtung County, and the MASADIFOREST in Hualien, connecting adjacent ecological habitats to form an eco-friendly ecological corridor for biological habitats.
On the other hand, TSC also develop various under-forest economic models based on the tree species and growth conditions of the afforestation land, such as the multiple uses of beekeeping, grazing, and coffee planting.
TSC implements proper thinning on the existing forest land that can improve the growth and shape and quality of trees, gain benefits such as increasing vegetation, increasing forest stock, promoting tree growth and maintaining tree health. Therefore, the operation branches of TSC will continue forest tending and management and will actively implement thinning in accordance with the growth status and stand density of the plantation land to achieve the goal of revitalizing the forests. Planning is also conducted based on the soil conditions and growth of tree species to increase the area of forests, strengthen forest management, and create the most favorable conditions for the development of carbon sinks for the future in advance.
TSC expects to align with the current economic, environmental, and social development for the planning of the flat land afforestation and its successive implementation. To enable continuous contribution of the afforestation land to the country’s sustainable development, we will make multiple uses such as timber production, under-forest economy, and sustainable management, while maintaining the ecological, landscape and recreational functions and recreation of the cultural value. We also take the inventory of the afforestation land resources again as an opportunity for forest policy transformation, so as to further respond to the expectation of the general public and assume the social responsibility of a state-owned enterprise.
