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Ten Years of Forest Creation
The “YOKOHAMA Forever Forest” Project will create forests over the
coming ten years at seven plants in Japan and eleven overseas plants of the Yokohama
Rubber Group. Starting with a planting ceremony at the Hiratsuka Factory in November
2007, domestic facilities will conduct tree-plantings each year from 2008 through
2010. Investigations will be commenced at the eleven overseas plants in 2008,
and planting schedules will be determined individually.
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Why the "Forever Forest"?
In the new medium-range management plan “Grand
Design 100 (GD100)”, which began in April 2006, the Yokohama Rubber Group
includes as one of its basic policies the manifestation of “world-class
strengths in technologies for protecting the environment” and has been
engaged in various environmental preservation activities. We also sought, however,
to be even more proactive, to go beyond the basic efforts to minimize waste and
save energy – to do something that would make the presence of the plant
a benefit in preserving the environment – and the work of biologist
Dr. Akira Miyawaki on “creation of native forests” came to our attention.
If forests are created around factories and similar facilities, they will not
only absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but create safe, pleasant environments
for recreation and, for example, can play disaster-preventive roles at times
of earthquakes, fires, etc. The “YOKOHAMA Forever Forest” is a proactive
environmental preservation measure based on “GD100.”
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Dr. Miyawaki
and Forest Creation
Dr. Miyawaki advocates the creation of “native forests” matched to
indigenous soil and climate in the specific area. In his view, natural forests,
as once existed everywhere, were lost in the development of paddy and dry farming,
roads and cities, the planting of unnatural species such as cedar and Japanese
cypress for commercial purposes, and the creation of woodlands called satoyama near
populated areas. Typical natural forests, still seen all across the country,
are found around temples and shrines and are called chinju-no-mori. Chinju-no-mori consist
primarily of trees indigenous to the specific area, which Dr. Miyawaki calls “potential
natural vegetation” – diversified forms of life, ranging from tall
and smaller trees, shrubs and grassland to molds, bacteria and ticks in the soil.
He argues that healthy, vital forests, where diversified biosystems compete,
are necessary – must be restored – if the overall environment is
to be preserved.
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Dr. Miyawaki giving a presentation at the Hiratsuka Factory
ahead of the project's launched on July 26.
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Individual Forest-Creation Efforts Impart Environment Consciousness into Our
DNA
The “YOKOHAMA Forever Forest” project will be carried out
under the close guidance of Dr. Miyawaki, but the employees of the Yokohama Rubber
Group will take the initiative in actual work. Creation of a forest requires
many steps over an extended period: gathering seeds (e.g., acorns) from the main
trees, growing seedlings in pots, preparing locations for planting, filling with
desired soil earth, gathering straw, preparing stakes, planting and caring for
the young trees. For example, at the Hiratsuka Factory, we are going to plant
three to five seedlings of broadleaved evergreens per one square meter by mixed
and densely planting method. They include shii (castanopsis), tabu (persea)
and kashi (cyclobalanopsis), all of which have deep taproots and are
strong against earthquakes, typhoons and fires. The factory has been preparing
for the planting since before summer. It usually takes two to three years to
raise seedlings from acorns. Other facilities, too, have begun gathering seeds,
and at some, growing of seedlings in pots has begun. We are confident that the
meaning behind theses efforts – hands-on, personal efforts – the
need to coexist harmoniously with the environment, is seeping into the DNA of
all employees of the Yokohama Rubber Group. |
Together with the People of the Community
We will carry out the “YOKOHAMA Forever
Forest” project
with the cooperation of local residents. The forests will, of course, absorb
carbon dioxide for the benefit of everyone, but are even more closely linked
to lives of local people, for their effectiveness in minimizing noise, offering
places for recreation, relaxation and environmental education, and in contributing
to disaster prevention. We will thus seek the understanding and cooperation of
local community in each case. In the same manner as at the Hiratsuka Factory,
at every location we will invite area residents to attend the tree planting ceremonies
and be part of the tree-planting efforts. By 2017, which will mark the 100th
anniversary of Yokohama Rubber, we will have developed forests around all of
our major plants, and look forward to appropriated festivities at that time,
together with our neighbors in the community. |
Profile
of Dr. Akira Miyawaki
Born in 1928 in Okayama Prefecture in Japan. Graduated
from the Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, HiroshimaUniversity. Served
as a visiting researcher at the Federal Institute for Vegetation Mapping in West
Germany, and as a professor at Yokohama National University; is currently a professor
emeritus at the university and director of the Japanese Center for International
Studies in Ecology. He is a specialist in plant ecology. Adopting his concept
on creation of native forests, many companies and organizations, including Nippon
Steel Corporation, Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc., Kansai Electric Power Co.,
Inc., Honda Motor Co., Ltd., and AEON Co., Ltd., are creating forests based on “potential
natural vegetation” (restoring and introducing types of vegetation most
suitable for the specific area). In 2006, he became the first Japanese researcher
to win the Blue Planet Prize, the environmental-studies equivalent to the Nobel
Prize. Among his books are “Plants and Human” (NHK Books); “The
Last Day for Man” (Chikuma Shobo); “Testimony by Green Plants” (Tokyo
Shoseki); “Prescription for Restoration of Green Environments” (Asahi
Shinbun-sha); and “Chinju-no-mori (Native Forests of Native Trees)” (Shincho-sha). |
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