Oji Holdings, Japan’s main paper maker, owns and manages 635,000 hectares of forests throughout the globe. Forest assets — for wooden, paper and wood-derived supplies or for biomass energy era — are attracting elevated consideration as sustainable assets. Nevertheless, their sustainability hinges on how they’re utilized and managed.Oji, who has been planting timber for 100 years,, locations forests on the core of its enterprise and engages in a variety of actions geared toward sustaining wholesome forests and enhancing the well-being of the individuals concerned in its forest administration initiatives throughout the globe. Moreover, it strives to precisely assess the multifaceted worth of forests and leverage them to spice up its total worth.
In a latest interview with The Japan Instances, Hiromi Yamamoto, supervisor of Oji’s Forest Worth-Creation and Promotion Division, mentioned the whole variety of staff engaged in afforestation actions overseas is 13,000, and the corporate has established manufacturing services in 23 nations.
Most of the firm’s forests are positioned in distant areas the place social providers and infrastructure are sometimes restricted. “In response, now we have been offering well being checkups in communities of those areas, primarily in Southeast Asian nations. Up to now, a complete of three,000 individuals in Vietnam and 5,500 in Indonesia have benefited from this initiative,” Yamamoto mentioned.
Within the subject of schooling, the corporate gives environmental teaching programs in Japan and overseas. Since 2004, Oji has supplied a summer time program for elementary faculty youngsters to go to its forests and have interaction in hands-on actions in Japan. “In New Zealand, now we have carried out environmental teaching programs at faculties since 2008, with over 10,000 college students collaborating up to now. Equally, our applications supplied in Brazil have been attended by 4,300 college students over the previous three years,” Yamamoto mentioned.
Oji gives assist for native companies, together with farmers and beekeepers, in addition to for infrastructure.
It’s also participating with stakeholders from outdoors Japan in an effort to quantify the values of forests. One instance of that is its collaboration with Pivotal, a U.Okay.-based startup that gives the great evaluation of biodiversity by utilizing AI which is made doable by means of drones, cameras, acoustic sensors and environmental DNA and different applied sciences. “That is the primary try of this type of biodiversity analysis in Japan. In Europe, this kind of know-how, which is known as ‘nature tech,’ is gaining momentum. On this context, we sought a companion to collaborate with and recognized Pivotal as a possible companion,” Yamamoto mentioned.
Monitoring survey in Sarufutsu forest by Pivotal and Oji HD
| Oji Holdings
One of many aims of this collaboration is to investigate pure areas in Japan and current the findings to the world. You will need to acknowledge that nature is just not uniform. The optimum method to conserving and nurturing pure assets varies by place, influenced by components akin to local weather, geography and historical past.
“In Europe, forest conservation requires a method of restoration from overuse. In Japan, the place forests are typically underused, forests should be managed by adequately utilizing forest assets,” Yamamoto mentioned.
Roughly 60% of the whole forest space in Japan is pure, although not all of it’s pristine. There are forests, also known as satoyama, which have been effectively maintained via human interventions akin to the usage of bamboo and wooden for constructing and gasoline. Nevertheless, lots of them are actually deserted. Among the man-made forests planted with timber timber, akin to cedar and cypress, have additionally been left untouched because of the decline in timber manufacturing. This isn’t solely a waste of assets but additionally poses a possible threat as a result of the soil in these uncared for forests is usually topic to degradation as a consequence of inadequate daylight and an absence of assorted vegetation and creatures.
Discipline survey with Pivotal, putting in cameras and audio sensors
| Oji Holdings
Slicing down timber could also be dangerous to nature in a single place, but be a approach to preserve it in one other. Yamamoto emphasised the necessity to scientifically and quantitatively analyze the state of Japan’s forests, and to find out which measures are the best in conserving nature in Japan.
“The efforts to quantify nature and to make use of the outcome to preserve or regenerate nature ought to are available one bundle. Within the close to future, when pure capital turns into a part of monetary belongings within the accounting commonplace, turning the results of such efforts into pure capital credit will result in a rise in our asset worth,” she mentioned.
Nevertheless, she warned that this shift to pure capital accounting must occur shortly as a result of the speed of pure degradation is essential. To speed up change, promote the advantages of forests and enhance the presence of forest-related industries at worldwide conferences, Oji based the Worldwide Sustainable Forestry Coalition in September 2023 with like-minded firms from world wide and is working with different member firms to realize its mission of “serving to society construct a nature-positive bioeconomy by making the absolute best use of forests and forest merchandise.” This accords with Oji’s company objective: “Develop and handle the sustainable forest, develop and ship the merchandise from renewable forest, and Oji will deliver this world a brighter future stuffed with hope.”
