Photo3-3-1 Rain Forest Restoration Experimental Project on Borneo Island (Malaysian Territory)

Photo: Mitsubishi Corporation

Photo3-3-2 Mangrove Planting in Ranong, Thailand

Photo: Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co., Ltd.

Under these circumstances, the business community has embarked on initiatives of their own. In March 2009, Nippon Keidanren announced the “Declaration of Biodiversity by Nippon Keidanren,” showing the determination to exert active efforts on biodiversity and providing guidelines for specific actions. In April 2008, the “Japan Business Initiative for Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity (JBIB)” was launched by Japanese companies for the purpose of learning about the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. As another example of various efforts initiated in the private sector, in April 2009, the Shiga Committee for Economic Development announced the “Shiga Business and Biodiversity Initiative for Lake Biwa,” with the 10-point declaration statement, including “We practice conservation activities for one species at least, or at one habitat area.”

There are also companies that have been undertaking activities that help conserve biodiversity as part of their main business operations or corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities since before the rise in the public awareness of efforts on biodiversity.

For example, a general trading house has been carrying out an experimental project in the Malaysian territory of

## 2 Cities and biodiversity

The term “biodiversity hotspots,” first proposed by Photo3-3-3 Tree Planting in Devastated Forests (East Java, Indonesia)

Photo: Sumitomo Forestry Co., Ltd.

Borneo Island to restore the rain forest ecosystem in the critical state to natural forests as much as possible at an early date. The project has been under way for 20 years since 1990, with the participation of company employees along with experts and people from local communities (Photo 3-3-1).

A nonlife insurance company achieved the condition of carbon neutral in FY 2007, offsetting carbon dioxide emissions from its domestic business offices by the use of natural energy and the carbon dioxide absorption and reduction effects of mangroves it planted. The planting of mangroves the company has been undertaking for a period of 10 years in partnership with nongovernment organizations (NGOs) has now covered a combined area of about 5,900 hectares in Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Myanmar and Fiji Islands (Photo 3-3-2). The company has also launched a project to donate cash equivalent to two mangrove trees per insurance contract in which a policyholder agrees to read a contract renewal agreement on the website instead of a paper document.

A forestry business company says while domestic forests it owns absorbed 116,000 tons of carbon dioxide in FY 2008, carbon dioxide fixed in lumber used for building wood houses it sold amounted to 210,000. This is a good example of a company contributing to the conservation of nature in its core business operations. The forestry industry contributes to the conservation of biodiversity as well as to the absorption of carbon dioxide. All forests the company owns have already been certified as adequately managed forests in 2006 by the Sustainable 'Green Ecosystem' Council (SGEC). Following the certification, the company has launched a survey to monitor the inhabitation and growth situation of animals and plants mainly in clear-cut areas. In response to deforestation of 1.90 million hectares per year in Indonesia, the company has decided plant trees in 300 hectares of protected forests within national parks and in 1,200 hectares of denuded forest lands outside protected forests (Photo 3-3-3).

As seen above, corporate activities friendly to biodiversity are becoming active both at home and abroad.