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Mitsui & Co. considers natural capital a key issue in its sustainability management and places emphasis on environmental initiatives within its social contribution activities. The company is committed to resolve environmental issues and aims to create an eco-friendly society.
As one of these initiatives, since 2007, Mitsui & Co. has been collaborating with the NPO Asaza Fund to restore abandoned Yatsuda rice paddies—rice fields nestled in the valleys between hills—in Ushiku City, Ibaraki Prefecture. This project involves employees of Mitsui & Co. and its group companies, along with their families, who actively participate in restoring these paddies.
In this project, with the support of the Asaza Fund, which promotes nature restoration activities in the area, participants engage in planting rice, weeding, harvesting, and maintaining the paddies by hand. They also experience sake brewing using the pesticide-free rice they have harvested. This employee-participation environmental program takes place five times a year.
Recently, the long-term efforts of this project to restore Satoyama*1 and conserve biodiversity have been recognized, and it has been registered as "Nationally Certified Sustainably Managed Natural Sites" by the Ministry of the Environment in the first half of 2024.
The "Nationally Certified Sustainably Managed Natural Sites" refers to areas outside of protected areas such as national parks, where biodiversity is being conserved through private initiatives. Certified areas are registered in the international database as OECM (Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures) and contribute to achieving the 30by30 Target*2.
On October 21, 2024, an award ceremony was held at the Saitama-Shintoshin National Government Building, where 21 organizations from the Kanto region that were awarded site certifications participated. During the ceremony, certificates were given, and each organization introduced an overview of their certified sites. Representing Mitsui & Co., Ms. Onda, Managing Officer, General Manager of the Corporate Sustainability Div. was in attendance.
Over the past 17 years, around 3,500 employees and their families have participated in this project. Going forward, through this project, we aim to continue preserving natural capital and biodiversity, deepen our connections with the local community, and enhance the environmental awareness of our employees while raising their interest in social issues.
*1 Satoyama refers to areas located between pristine natural environments and urban regions, where human activities have shaped a unique natural environment. These areas are typically composed of secondary forests, artificial woodlands, agricultural lands, ponds, and grasslands that surround rural communities.
*2 The 30by30 Target is a global goal aimed at effectively conserving at least 30% of the Earth's land and ocean as healthy ecosystems by 2030.






