Nature conservation activity of:
Mitsui & Co., Ltd.
| URL: | http://www.mitsui.co.jp/en/index.html |
| Address: | 1-2-1, Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo |
| Telephone: | +81-3-3285-7688 |
| FAX: | +81-3-3285-9030 |
| e-mail: | EMS_TKVCE @ mitsui.com |
1. Approach to nature (environmental) conservation activities
As a good corporate citizen, Mitsui regards aggressive global environmental protection activities as one of the company's most important management issues, and is putting forth maximum effort toward the realization of "sustainable growth" that aims for a harmonious balance between economic activity and global environmental conservation.
In terms of nature conservation, our policy is to engage in global conservation activities that are suitable for our company through cooperation with public institutions, industry, and local communities.
2. Partnerships with NGOs
Mitsui is a member of such organizations as the Wild Bird Society of Japan, OISCA-International, The Children of Earth's Club, and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. The company has also partnered with a number of NPOs & NGOs domestically and abroad through its Mitsui & Co., Ltd. Environment Fund established in 2005.
3. Environmental education & volunteer training (employees)
Mitsui has 73 company-owned forests in 22 districts and prefectures spanning from Hokkaido to Kumamoto Prefecture, and the total area of this forestland makes up around 0.12%, or approximately 44,000 hectares, of Japan's total land mass (equal to around 70% of Tokyo's 23 wards). In the future, the company will aggressively utilize its company-owned forests from a variety of angles. One such recent use was a forest environment education program held for employees and their families at the company's Kameyama forest in Chiba Prefecture in March and April 2007. The program was comprised of experiential tree thinning (in which participants used saws to thin Japanese cypress and cedar trees aged around 45 years) and nature observation (where participants strolled through the forest and listened to an expert lecture on the ecology of plants and animals that exist outside of the scope of normal awareness), and served as a forum for developing the self-awareness needed to foster a proper recognition of the environment among our employees as well an awareness of the social responsibility of the company. In the future, we plan to continue to hold this program regularly while expanding the scope of activity to the company's Tashiro forest in Fukushima Prefecture, part of which was incorporated into Oze National park in August 2007, as well as the company-owned Niwan and Saru forests in Hokkaido.
In addition, through the Mitsui & Co., Ltd. Environment Fund, we are conducting a program whereby company employees and their families participate as volunteers in the activities of grant recipients. In fiscal 2007, through cooperation with the nonprofit organization Asaza Fund, a grant recipient of the Environment Fund, we conducted a volunteer activity whereby the deteriorated ecosystem of valley paddy fields and the surrounding area of Ushiku City in Ibaraki Prefecture was revitalized through rice planting. Moreover, through a joint effort with the Fujisan Club, a Japanese nonprofit organization, a cleanup at the base of Mt. Fuji was performed in July and November, 2007.
4. Environmental education (external)
With assistance from Chiyoda Ward and the Chiyoda Ward board of education, in August 2007 the 6th ["Contact with Nature!"] experiential forest classroom for elementary students in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward was held in the company's Nanba forest in Niigata Prefecture. The purpose of this program was to give students in neighboring elementary schools the opportunity to come into contact with the natural environment in a forest setting. Employees independently developed ideas for deepening exchanges with the children, and were involved in the operation of the day's program. The 7th such event was held in October in the company's Tashiro forest in Fukushima Prefecture, where participants had the opportunity to learn about the ecosystem of the valuable high moor at the summit of Tashiro mountain, which was incorporated into Oze National park.
5. Use and conservation of company-owned forestland
Some 70% of Japan's land is forestland, and carefully maintaining this land will produce diverse and significant functions of public benefit. Mitsui's basic policy is to hold onto its forestland for the long term and carefully maintain and manage it, while considering uses for environmental businesses in addition to promoting its active use for forest environment education. In December 2006, we obtained Sustainable Green Ecosystem Council (SGEC) forest certification for all of our company-owned forestland, and we are managing this forestland in a way that promotes the conservation of biodiversity.
6. Forest development activities
In order to maintain and manage our company-owned forestland, a team of around 60 employees from Mitsui subsidiaries Mitsui Bussan Forest Co., Ltd. and Butsurin Afforestation Co., Ltd. are working continuously to carefully maintain this land and bring out the diverse public-benefiting functions these forests possess. Our forests are classified into five categories, and are carefully managed according to their intended uses. In other natural sparse woodland forests, we are clearing and cutting away the land and replanting and reseeding it in order to stimulate new growth and increase forest volume.
Manmade forests
- a) Cyclically managed forestland
- Forestland which undergoes an ongoing cutting - new planting - nursing - cutting cycle as reusable natural resources: approx. 8,500ha
- b) Inducement of natural forestland
- Forestland that undergoes repeated thinning, and for which the renewal of broad-leaf trees is promoted in cut-over areas and mixed needle-leaf and broadleaf forest is cultivated: approx. 9,100ha
Natural forests
- c) Growth of natural forests
- Forestland in which trees are germinated in areas where natural renewal is possible through the autogenesis of useful trees: approx 1,400ha
- d) Specific natural forests
- Protected forestland that should be left for future generations in natural environments where nature is left as much as possible to its own devices: approx. 500ha
- e) Other natural forestland
- Approx. 24,500ha