Ono Forest (Hokkaido)
Mitsui's Forests
Mitsui's Forest Management
Mitsui & Co. owns forests in 76 locations in Japan, from Hokkaido in the north to Kyushu in the south. Mitsui's Forests cover a total area of approximately 45,600 hectares. By leveraging the individual character of each forest, we protect and nurture the diverse values that forests possess and return them to society, thereby advancing sustainable forestry and new value creation that will continue 100 years into the future.
The Vision of Mitsui's Forests
The foundation of Mitsui's forest management is appropriate forest management and operations that protect and nurture the diverse functions of forests and realize sustainable, healthy forests. As the steward of a vast forest area and precious natural capital, we carry out the necessary operations appropriately from a long-term perspective and conduct forest management tailored to the characteristics of each forest.
In “The Vision of Mitsui's Forests,” we aim to create a cycle that, starting from appropriate forest management, makes the value of forests visible, brings out and utilizes that value, and reinvests the value gained back into forest development.
Specifically, in addition to social value such as strengthening public-benefit functions, CO2 absorption and fixation, conserving and enhancing biodiversity and ecosystem services, water-source cultivation, and disaster prevention, we are working to create value that leverages the functions unique to a general trading company—such as the strategic use of forest resources, diversification of resource applications, use of company-owned forests as venues, and the preservation of traditional culture.
To make these initiatives effective, Mitsui & Co. is responsible for formulating forest management policy and setting the direction of value creation, while Mitsui Bussan Forest is responsible for on-the-ground forest management rooted in each forest. Working with diverse stakeholders surrounding the forests—including local communities, government, related organizations, and business partners—the two companies advance sustainable forestry and new value creation, striving to build forests that foster trust.
Forestry Professionals: Mitsui Bussan Forest
Mitsui Bussan Forest Co., Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsui & Co. established in 2004. It is comprehensively entrusted with the management of the company-owned forests and handles the practical work of forest management at Mitsui's Forests. With its Tokyo head office and five bases in Sapporo, Obihiro, Biratori, Nagoya, and Nagashima, approximately 60 employees work on the management and cultivation of company-owned forests nationwide.
As forestry professionals, and with safe operations as the foremost premise, the company advances a series of afforestation and timber-production activities from planting to log sales, as well as road-network infrastructure development, resource-volume assessment, timely operations based on forest-by-forest zoning, the maintenance of in-house crews, and human-resource development. In collaboration with local governments, relevant organizations, local residents, and other stakeholders in the communities where each forest is located, it works as one with Mitsui & Co. to support sustainable forest management tailored to the characteristics of each forest.
To advance forest management, the company is also pursuing digital transformation, including the use of airborne laser sensing, drones, cloud GIS, high-performance forestry machinery, and ICT and geographic data. By centrally managing forest-resource and topographic information, it enhances operational planning, enables rapid situational awareness during disasters, and improves work safety, productivity, and labor efficiency.
Forest Certification
We are working to obtain sustainable forest management certification for Mitsui's Forests.
Forest certification is a system in which an independent third party examines and certifies whether a forest's management methods meet criteria established across the environmental, social, and economic dimensions. It helps prevent illegal logging and disorderly deforestation, conserve biodiversity, give consideration to local communities and workers, and promote the sustainable use of forest products. Internationally widespread forest certification systems include FSC® certification and PEFC certification. Japan has its own SGEC certification, which has been in a mutual-recognition relationship with PEFC certification since 2016. Mitsui obtained SGEC certification for all of Mitsui's forests in 2006 and FSC® certification in 2009. We position these forest certifications as a framework for objectively verifying the management standards of our company-owned forests and for continually improving responsible forest management.
The Aim of FSC® Certification
FSC® certification is a system in which a third party examines and certifies responsible forest management based on the principles and criteria established by the Forest Stewardship Council®, a non-profit international membership organization that operates an international forest-certification program. FSC forest management (FM) certification in Japan uses the national forest stewardship standard FSC-STD-JPN-01.1-2020, which took effect in December 2020 and is subject to periodic review. Taking trends in the standard into account, Mitsui, together with Mitsui Bussan Forest, strives to maintain and improve forest management in line with the FSC® approach.
Mitsui's Forests and FSC® Certification
At forests in 76 locations across Japan, Mitsui & Co. holds forest management (FM) certification, which covers forest management, and Mitsui Bussan Forest holds chain of custody (CoC) certification, which verifies the processing and distribution of certified timber. This connects the chain from forest management to the supply of certified timber.
As a member of the Forest Stewardship Council Japan (FSC Japan / the specified non-profit organization that serves as the secretariat of the FSC® organization in Japan), Mitsui has cooperated in spreading the certification system and raising its profile, including by appointing a director to the council. We also participate in discussions on the formulation and revision of Japan's FSC forest stewardship standards, and—as a large-scale forest owner—cooperate in creating effective standards by providing opinions that reflect on-site realities and by conducting field tests in our company-owned forests.
Mitsui will strive to maintain forests based on the FSC®'s Forest Management Principles and Criteria, and also SGEC's Forest Management Certification Principles and Indicators.
Mitsui & Co. (FM) license number: FSC® C057355
Mitsui Bussan Forest (CoC) license number: FSC® C031328
The commercialization process of FSC®-certified lumber
