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The Mitsui & Co. Environment Fund

Introduction to Grant Projects

Kochi Prefecture/ Ino city/ Mitsui & Co. Shikoku Branch

Expanding the Collaborative Forest Restoration with Environmentally Progressive Companies initiative across Japan to provide a demonstration of forestry activity over a wide area and the restoration of powerful, healthy forests

Activity grant

Project Description

The forestry industry in Japan is facing a severe situation with problems including the deterioration of manmade forests, a shortage of workers, and a need for large-scale concentrated initiatives. As part of the Collaborative Forest Restoration with Environmentally Progressive Companies initiative being advanced in Kochi Prefecture, Kochi, Ino city, the Mitsui & Co. Shikoku Branch, and four other NPOs engaged in a three year conservation project backed by the Mitsui & Co. Environment Fund in 2005. This project will leverage the successes of these efforts by implementing dynamic, small-scale initiatives such as building forest maintenance frameworks, and encouraging the production and consumption of energy using woody biomass. Specific actions will include introducing a regional currency that can be earned through forest maintenance work such as tree-thinning, and encouraging the circulation of this currency in order to keep forests maintained and stimulate the regional economy. It will also cultivate independent forestry practioners and advance the building of a public-private collaborative woody biomass usage system.

Fields
Climate changePreservation of surface soil and forestsEnergy problemPreservation of biodiversity and ecosystem
Grant year
FY2008 Activity Grants
Grant term
3 years
April 2009 - March 2012
Grant amount
5,580,000 yen
Activity region
Ino (formerly Hongawa), Agawa District, Kochi Prefecture, Japan
Staff from Mitsui and group companies receive training in forest thinning at the Mitsui & Co. and Ino Partnership Forest

Overview of the Organization

Katsuhito Nabeshima, Head of the Kochi Prefecture Department of Forestry and Environment Bureau of Ecology
Representative
Katsuhito Nabeshima, Head of the Kochi Prefecture Department of Forestry and Environment Bureau of Ecology
Establishment
2003
Establishment purpose
The bureau was established with the aim of promoting initiatives that encourage co-existence with Kochi Prefecture's bountiful nature, conserve and use the area's pure stream water, and combat global warming, in order to build a low-carbon society.
Main area of activity
Kochi Prefecture, Japan
Staff
22 full-time staff members
WEB site
http://www.pref.kochi.lg.jp/
Recent activities
  • (1) Engaging in citizen led measures to combat global warming in the area, and collaborating with companies to maintain forests with CO2 absorbing functions through the Collaborative Forest Restoration with Environmentally Progressive Companies initiative. Encouraging carbon-offset activity by issuing 'CO2 absorption credits' to collaborating reforestation activities and selling credits earned through the offset credit system (Japanese version) for reducing CO2 emissions through the use of woody biomass fuel.
  • (2) Protecting rare plant and animal species that perform important environmental functions, conserving and managing Kochi's abundant natural areas and wilderness parks, and managing prefectural livestock farms and botanical gardens.
  • (3) Conserving the pure waters of the Shimanto River, Monobe River, Niyodo River, and Kochi's other valuable water sources, encouraging their use by as many people as possible, and preserving them for future generations.