Oct. 06, 2010
Tsutsumi Plant Tree-planting Activities Make Green List
Toyota City, Japan, October 6, 2010―Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) announces that its tree-planting activities at its Tsutsumi Plant―a model for the sustainable-plant initiatives TMC is rolling out in Japan and overseas―have been named to the Urban Green Space Development Foundation of Japan's "100 Corporate Greenspaces Helping to Preserve Biodiversity"1 list.
The list is a special category of the foundation's Social and Environmental Green Evaluation System (SEGES2) and features 100 outstanding examples of preservation, creation, or utilization of accessible greenspace by corporations, with selections made according to the following three criteria: 1) protection of habitats, 2) respect for local ecosystems and 3) utilization of greenspace. The tree-planting activities at the Tsutsumi Plant have been chosen as one of 34 examples selected to coincide with the Tenth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP10) to be held from October 11 in Nagoya.
Aimed at creating a green production plant that is linked to the local community and the natural environment and that acts as a forested habitat for a diversity of plants and animals, the greening activities at Tsutsumi Plant are carried out with the aim of restoring as much as possible the ecosystem native to the plant's locality.
Vegetation and ecosystem surveys are regularly carried out as part of a forest maintenance and management program for gauging the effect of the wooded area within the plant on the surrounding natural environment. Moreover, to promote good community relations, the plant, while aiming to conduct activities that make it one with the community, has brought together local residents and TMC employees to carry out tree-planting sessions and to grow saplings to help create future forests. To the same end, it has opened to the public part of the planted areas and biotopes created, providing the local community with additional recreation space and local children with learning opportunities.
1An unofficial translation; the Japanese name is "Seibutsu Tayousei Hozen ni Tsunagaru Kigyou no Midori 100 Sen"
2As part of the Third Basic Environment Plan, the National Biodiversity Strategy of Japan 2010 and the Guidelines for Private Sector Engagement in Biodiversity, which determine the major outlines of government environmental policy, SEGES is one of the systems used to evaluate and certify the degree of social and environmental contribution made by activities on the part of corporations and other entities to preserve and create greenspace. Applications submitted are evaluated according to a five-level grading system prior to certification.
The list is a special category of the foundation's Social and Environmental Green Evaluation System (SEGES2) and features 100 outstanding examples of preservation, creation, or utilization of accessible greenspace by corporations, with selections made according to the following three criteria: 1) protection of habitats, 2) respect for local ecosystems and 3) utilization of greenspace. The tree-planting activities at the Tsutsumi Plant have been chosen as one of 34 examples selected to coincide with the Tenth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP10) to be held from October 11 in Nagoya.
Aimed at creating a green production plant that is linked to the local community and the natural environment and that acts as a forested habitat for a diversity of plants and animals, the greening activities at Tsutsumi Plant are carried out with the aim of restoring as much as possible the ecosystem native to the plant's locality.
Vegetation and ecosystem surveys are regularly carried out as part of a forest maintenance and management program for gauging the effect of the wooded area within the plant on the surrounding natural environment. Moreover, to promote good community relations, the plant, while aiming to conduct activities that make it one with the community, has brought together local residents and TMC employees to carry out tree-planting sessions and to grow saplings to help create future forests. To the same end, it has opened to the public part of the planted areas and biotopes created, providing the local community with additional recreation space and local children with learning opportunities.
1An unofficial translation; the Japanese name is "Seibutsu Tayousei Hozen ni Tsunagaru Kigyou no Midori 100 Sen"
2As part of the Third Basic Environment Plan, the National Biodiversity Strategy of Japan 2010 and the Guidelines for Private Sector Engagement in Biodiversity, which determine the major outlines of government environmental policy, SEGES is one of the systems used to evaluate and certify the degree of social and environmental contribution made by activities on the part of corporations and other entities to preserve and create greenspace. Applications submitted are evaluated according to a five-level grading system prior to certification.
