Nov. 15, 2017

Toyota Announces Selection of Recipients of the 2017 Toyota Environmental Activities Grant Program

Toyota City, Japan, November 15, 2017―Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) has selected 28 projects as grant recipients of the Toyota Environmental Activities Grant Program. In the 18 years since its introduction in 2000, a cumulative total of 360 projects in 53 countries and regions have received this grant.

The program was introduced to commemorate Toyota winning the Global 500 Award¹ in 1999. It is also part of Challenge 6: the Challenge of Establishing a Future Society in Harmony with Nature under the Toyota Environmental Challenge 2050², which was announced in 2015.

Biodiversity conservation and climate change were chosen as themes for the grant program, which drew 104 applications in the three selection categories―international project grants, domestic project grants, and domestic small project grants.

During the screening process, the first and final rounds focused on continuity and future development, harmony with regional characteristics, among other points. Within the international project grant category, 10 projects were selected, including the "Save the forests in Madagascar and make children smile!" project. In Japan, ten projects were selected from the domestic project category, including the "Coral reef habitat restoration project around the Kerama Islands (Okinawa)," and eight projects, including the "Ex situ conservation project for the critically endangered pink sea milkwort of Noto Peninsula" were selected from the domestic small project grant category.

A ceremony will be held in December in Tokyo, where representatives of this year's selected projects will be presented with grant certificates. A meeting is scheduled to be held next spring to report on the selections.

Toyota intends to continue its efforts toward establishing a future society in harmony with nature through various forms of support to NPOs and other organizations in the future.

¹The award recognizes the outstanding achievements of individuals and organizations in protecting and improving the environment. In 1999, Toyota became the first Japanese corporation to receive the award in recognition of its many initiatives to protect and improve the environment (such as being the first company in the world to mass-produce and sell hybrid vehicles) and its wide-ranging corporate social contribution activities.

²With the aim of contributing to the sustainability of the global environment, in October 2015 Toyota announced the Toyota Environmental Challenge 2050. The Toyota Environmental Challenge 2050 aims to reduce the environmental burden of manufacturing and driving vehicles to zero, by helping address key global environmental issues such as climate change, water shortage, resource depletion, and degradation of biodiversity, as well as to create value and produce benefits for society. The challenge is composed of six individual challenges across three areas: ever-better cars, ever-better manufacturing, and enriching the lives of communities. http://www.toyota-global.com/sustainability/environment/challenge2050/

Grant Program Contact: Secretariat, Toyota Environmental Activities Grant Program

E-mail: tmc-ecogrant@g500.jp

URL: http://www.toyota.co.jp/jpn/sustainability/environment/challenge6/ecogrant/ (Japanese)

http://www.toyota-global.com/sustainability/environment/challenge6/ecogrant/ (English)

2017 Toyota Environmental Activities Grant Program Recipients

Grant Category	Theme	Project Description	Organization	Country
Outside Japan	Climate Change	Children's education and natural forest conservation toward harmony with the Maasai people's way of living and the environment	Community Road Empowerment	Kenya
	Climate Change	Save the forests in Madagascar and make children smile!	Ecology Online	Madagascar
	Biodiversity Conservation	Conserving biodiversity with smallholder coffee producers in Kenya	Rainforest Alliance Inc.	Kenya
		Biodiversity conservation survey for sustainable tourism development in Chele La Pass, Bhutan	Japan Environmental Education Forum	Bhutan
		Conservation of rare Chinese peonies and promotion of community-led sustainable forest conservation in Bulgan, Mongolia	OISCA-Japan	Mongolia
		"Kaeng Krachan Forest Complex Future Creation PJT" for sustainable environmental innovation	Conference of Earth Environment from Akita	Thailand
		Citizenship for nature―a project to promote environmental awareness and develop local capacity to contribute to the protection of nature sites.	SPEA	Portugal
		Create a joint government-citizen patrol system in Primorsky Krai to prevent illegal logging in the Russian Far East	WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) Japan	Russia
		Ecology survey and conservation of the wintering grounds of spoon-billed sandpipers in Myanmar	BirdLife International Tokyo	Myanmar
		Community-led seedling business for diverse forest reclamation in Sarawak, Malaysia	Japan-Malaysia Association	Malaysia
Japan	Biodiversity Conservation	Forest creation by Donguri Walkers in water source areas, Morikoro Park, and disaster-affected areas in the Tohoku region	Donguri Mongori	Japan
		Coral reef habitat restoration project around the Kerama Islands (Okinawa)	Churaumi Shinkokai
		Lifestyles with nature-rich agriculture (pursuing the blessings of satoyama^*)	Maruyama Project
		Moko Fudo volcano biodiversity activation project	Specified nonprofit corporation attempting to restore nature―Biotope Moko
		Restoration and creation of terraced rice fields and satoyama in Nishihata-cho, Ikoma City	Ikoma Rice Terrace Club
		Creating economic cycles and communities using mulberry resources through interaction between cities and agricultural regions	Mulberry Club Chubu
		"Conserving hometown forests! Thousand-Year Forest on Matsuge River" Project	Groundwork Mishima
		Development and rollout of educational program to increase awareness of the conservation of coral reef ecosystems	Marine Learning Center
		Establishment of a support tool for mapping interaction between people and nature	Workshop for Sustainable Community
		Valley hotspots: Restoring satoyama of Tokyo salamanders, Japanese night herons, and Luciola fireflies	Miura Peninsula Biodiversity Conservation Network
		Removal of introduced plants (e.g., Sphagneticola trilobata and Casuarina equisetifolia) and planting of native plants on Iriomote Island	Group for the promotion of local economy by planting native plants on Iriomote
		Collecting and composting sea lettuce in the prefectural Takasago Seaside Park	Takasago kaihinkouen umibe no hozen tsudoi no kai
		The 6th and 7th Morimori Hirogaru forest creation	Itokoku no Morizukuri no Kai
		Conducting environmental education related to deer	Japan Deer Society
		Creation and maintenance of a 28,000 square meter wild forest with 350 varieties of plants for 17 years by one 92-year-old man	Sanyasounoeki Hozonkai
		Ex situ conservation project for the critically endangered pink sea milkwort of Noto Peninsula	Porepore Shizen Kankyo Kansatsukai
		Nature-based Solutions by Urban Green Infrastructure	Toshima Green Infrastructure Association
		Connecting the past and the future: Making Terminal House	TANAKAMI Kodomo Kankyo Club