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Tokio Marine and Fire Insurance
is repairing the environment through direct action
and public education. In so doing, its employees
have developed closer ties to the land and the people
who use it.
Since 1999, Tokio
Marine has developed coastal mangrove forests in
five Southeast Asian countries (the Philippines,
Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Myanmar). To inform
the public about the future that can be achieved
through environmental initiatives such as this,
the company sponsored a television program called
“A Journey through Coastal Mangrove Forests
in the Elephant's Trunk Region of Thailand.”
In addition to the beautiful scenery of southern
Thailand, the program also showed the commitment
of project workers to the restoration of mangrove
forests in the Malay Peninsula region of Thailand
(known as the “Elephant's Trunk”),
the lifestyles of the people who inhabit mangrove
forests, and mangrove ecosystems.
The term “mangrove” refers
to trees and grasses growing on tidal flats in tropical
and sub-tropical regions. They counteract global
warming by absorbing large volumes of carbon dioxide
and also protect homes and farmlands from storm
erosion. In addition, mangrove forests are vital
to the livelihoods of local inhabitants because
of their abundance of seafood. Unfortunately, intense
human activities in coastal regions have halved
these rich natural environments in recent years.
Tokio Marine is not only fighting to reverse this
trend, but is working effectively to inspire others
to lend a hand.
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| Tropical Asia's
mangroves are threatened, and with them, whole
communities—even a way of life, but, help
is on the way. |
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Mitsubishi
companies are setting up new ways to “do good
by doing well.” They are participating in an
international scheme to reduce global CO2
emissions by using their business skills and resources
to reduce CO2
production in developing nations. To help achieve
the targets for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions
under the Kyoto Protocol, the global community established
flexible, but strictly monitored mechanisms that allow
credit in one country toward CO2
emission targets in return for documented reductions
in another country. One of the mechanisms is known
as the “Clean Development Mechanism,”
or CDM.
Mitsubishi Securities is a pioneer in
the field of CDM, providing consulting services to
a broad range of private and public entities, both
domestic and international. It has developed PDDs
(Project Design Documents) for potential CDM projects
in Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and Egypt.
The PDD is an integral document of the CDM process.
In December 2003, the CDM Executive Board
under the United Nations approved the baseline and
monitoring methodologies developed by Mitsubishi Securities
for a biomass power generation scheme in Thailand.
This project aims to generate 20,000 kW of carbon-neutral
electricity from rice husks and gain emission credits
of 80,000 tons annually.
The approval of the methodology, the first
for renewable energy, paves the way for the implementation
of the project under the CDM.
Before the scheme can be confirmed as
a CDM project, it must first be approved by the governments
of the investing and host nations and then validated
by a non-governmental designated operating entity
selected by the CDM Executive Board. |
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 Often,
the best way to inspire environmental awareness is
to lead by example. That is precisely what employees
of Mitsubishi Electric have discovered. In 1996, many
trees on the southern slopes of Mount Fuji were uprooted
by a typhoon. Since then, numerous volunteers have
been working to replant the damaged areas of the forest.
Mitsubishi Electric employees have been participating
in this effort since 1999. In November 2003, 22 employees
of Mitsubishi Electric participated in a voluntary
forest-planting and improvement scheme on Mount Fuji.
Participants said they learned first-hand about the
importance of nature through the experience of physical
involvement in this nature conservation activity. |
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