Planting new seedlings in Borneo

The loss of tropical forests is a serious environmental issue today. Besides nurturing biological diversity, forests help protect us from global warming, floods and other natural disasters. Once destroyed, old-growth forests may take 300 to 500 years to return to their original condition.
  Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) launched its Tropical Forest Regeneration Project in Sarawak, Malaysia in 1990. Based on research by Japanese professor, Dr. Akira Miyawaki, Director of the Japanese Center for International Studies in Ecology, it is testing ways to quickly restore degraded forestland to conditions approximating an old-growth ecosystem through the intensive mixed planting of native trees.
  In 1992, MC, Para Agricultural University and others launched a project to apply the Miyawaki method in a section of Amazonian tropical rainforest, and more than 400,000 trees were planted on infertile wasteland. As the world's first forest regeneration experiment in a lowland tropical forest, this project attracted considerable interest among ecologists and forestry experts.
  Between 2002 and 2005, MC also sponsored tree-planting eco-tours to Borneo, where visitors inspected experimental afforestation sites and were also involved in the planting of new seedlings.
  Now in its 16th year, MC's support of the project in Sarawak still continues, and it hopes that in future, it can continue to contribute to tropical forest restoration initiatives.

As part of its 120th anniversary celebrations, Tokio Marine & Nichido has been reforesting mangroves in five Southeast Asian countries—the Phillipines, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Myanmar. In the project's first phase, from 1999 to 2003, 3,444 hectares of mangrove were planted. The second five-year phase, which began in 2004, aims to plant another 2,000 hectares of forest, this time, in Fiji.

“Green Volunteers” plant mangroves with Thai local people

  The company sends out volunteers such as the employees and their families on week-long missions once or twice a year to regions where mangrove reforestation is vital. Besides this, the volunteers hold seminars, visit NGO research facilities and schools, and take part in cultural exchange programs.
  The 8th Mangrove Forestation Volunteer Tour was held in Ranong, Thailand in February 2006. Twenty-eight volunteers labored in extremely hot and wet conditions to plant some 25,000 mangrove trees assisted by local people. The volunteers also offered boat excursions to the blooming replanted mangrove forests, providing an opportunity for cultural exchange with local school children.
  At the 9th Asia Insurance Industry Awards held in Singapore on September 26, 2005, the Millea Holdings received a special Merit Award in the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) category for its contributions to the environment and communities of Asia.