Pan Pac Forest Products, an Oji Group company, conducts activities for protecting kiwi, a rare bird species, in cooperation with the Ministry for the Environment of New Zealand, citizen volunteers, and other parties. For these activities, the company has designated land of an area of approximately 40 hectares as a kiwi sanctuary for protecting kiwi chicks. Chicks and eggs in the surrounding area are captured and collected, and chicks that are captured or hatched from the collected eggs are nurtured in the sanctuary before being returned to the wild.
In June 2019, Pan Pac was named Community Corporate Sponsor of the Year at a national kiwi conference held by “Kiwis for kiwi”, a kiwi protection organization.
The largest of the Oji Group's overseas plantations is CENIBRA, a eucalyptus plantation and pulp business in Minas Gerais, Brazil. The company owns and manages 250,000 ha of forest, of which 100,000 ha are maintained as a protected forest area. Protected forest areas are subject to protection under Brazilian forest laws for the conservation of biodiversity. In addition to natural forests, the company also protects native vegetation around rivers and lakes, including water sources.*1
Symbolic of the company's biodiversity efforts is the Macedonia Farm, 560 ha of which has been recognized by the government as a private natural heritage reserve (RPPN).*2 Here there is a valuable Atlantic forest (mata Atlantica) ecosystem which has been identified and managed as an area with high conservation value in the forest certification. Regular monitoring surveys of the biota have identified 639 species of vertebrates, including 415 species of birds and 84 species of mammals, observed by 2023.
Of these, the endangered mutum-do-sudeste (red-billed curassow ) and other wild birds have been targeted for breeding, rearing, and returning to nature in cooperation with a local NGO since 1990. A total of 480 birds of seven species have been released, and more than 300 birds have been born in the wild from the released individuals. Currently, with the cooperation of the state, we are planning to release birds in a state park adjacent to CENIBRA's forest, aiming to increase the population and expand the habitat of three species which are still highly endangered.
In 2009, Oji Holdings established the Sarufutsu Itou Conservation Council with a local NPO, administrative bodies, researchers, and others for the purpose of protecting the Japanese huchen, or the sea-run taimen (Hucho perryi), an endangered species that lives in the river zone of the Sarufutsu mountain forest in Sarufutsu village, Hokkaido. An area of 2,600 hectares including the river zone was designated a conservation area, and conservation activities are conducted.
The fairy pitta is a migratory bird with multiple body colors and a body length of around 20 centimeters. It is listed as a class IB endangered species on the Red List of the Ministry of the Environment.
In August 2016, Oji Holdings concluded an agreement to protect the fairy pitta with the Ecosystem Trust Society at the 260 hectares of company-owned forest, which is adjacent to the fairy pitta sanctuary of the organization.
This company-owned forest was certified as a "Nationally Certified Sustainably Managed Natural Site" by the Ministry of Environment in 2023 and registered on the World Database on Other Effective area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs)* in August 2024.
