The Tokio Marine Group believes it is vital to study climate change risk and global warming in order to be able to continue to provide stable products and services, and we are now developing and offering products and services that cover these new risks.
Approach to Biodiversity
The Tokio Marine Group recognizes the preservation of biodiversity as one of the most important issues facing society, and as a good corporate citizen, promotes the following initiatives to preserve and sustainably use biodiversity.
We endeavor to understand our relationship with biodiversity (benefits and impact) in our business activities, to reduce our impact on biodiversity, and to preserve biodiversity.
We engage in educational activities on the preservation of biodiversity for the general public and work with our stakeholders to contribute to the development of a sustainable society.
Participation in the "Promotion Partners" Program under "The Declaration of Biodiversity by Nippon Keidanren"
Tokio Marine & Nichido supports "The Declaration of Biodiversity by Nippon Keidanren" and in January 2010 joined the "Promotion Partners" program under the declaration. Our business activities comply with the declaration and its behavioral guidelines.
Relationship with Biodiversity
The Tokio Marine Group engages in global business, using paper, energy and other resources around the world. Our business therefore imposes a load on the global environment. The insurance industry consumes large amounts of paper resources in particular, and we pay attention to the impact that we have on forest ecosystems.
The Tokio Marine Group works in coordination with its stakeholders on a number of programs to reduce our load on the global environment and biodiversity and help preserve biodiversity.
Programs in Core Business
Green Gift Project
(Outline of program)
Our environmentally-friendly products enable us to contribute to global environmental protection in partnership with our customers and agents.
Tokio Marine & Nichido encourages its customers to opt for web clauses, which are available for viewing on the web instead of in a paper form, for automotive insurance and fire insurance, etc. Under this Green Gift Project, every time a policyholder chooses this option, we contribute funding for the planting of two mangroves to the mangrove plantation project.
(Program impact)
By choosing web clauses, our customers help us to save paper resources. At the same time, they also help to reduce the environmental load from paper production, transportation to the company, delivery to the customer, and disposal as waste. In addition, we make a contribution to a mangrove plantation project because of the effectiveness of mangroves in preventing global warming and preserving ecosystems. We look forward to continuing this project in the future and to contributing to the conservation of paper resources, prevention of global warming, and preservation of biodiversity.
Global Environmental Protection and Social Contribution Activities
Mangrove Plantation Project
(Outline of program)
Since 1999, the Tokio Marine Group has conducted a mangrove plantation project in primarily Southeast Asia, recognizing that mangroves are the "forests of the sea," an important component in global environmental protection and ecosystem conservation whose numbers have been depleted through large-scale deforestation. During the 10-year period to FY2008, we planted 5,901 hectares in six countries, including Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand. From FY2009, we added India as a seventh country and set a goal of planting approximately 2,300 hectares during the 5-year period to FY2013.
This project is conducted in partnership with the NGOs Action for Mangrove Reforestation (ACTMANG), The Organization for Industrial, Spiritual and Cultural Advancement-International (OISCA), and International Society for Mangrove Ecosystems (ISME).
(Relationship between mangrove plantation and biodiversity)
Mangroves help to prevent global warming by absorbing CO2. They also play the role of a levee, protecting people and the ecosystem from tsunamis and other natural disasters.
In addition, mangroves are known as the "cradle of life" for the key role that they play in fostering rich ecosystems and serving as the source of the coastal food chain.
(Program impact)
"Mangrove" is a generic term for flora that thrives along tropical and subtropical coastlines and river mouths. Mangroves are sometimes referred to as the "forests of the sea." They have many benefits for human beings and the earth. Mangroves absorb and fix large volumes of CO2, one of the factors in global warming, contributing to the prevention of global warming.
They also serve as natural levees to protect people from tsunamis and other disasters. Mangroves saved the lives of many people behind them from the tsunami generated in the Indian Ocean by the earthquake off the island of Sumatra in December 2004.
The roots of mangrove trees also serve as a "cradle of life," providing a safe space where fish can spawn and small fish, crabs, shrimp and other animals thrive in a rich ecosystem.
Mangroves provide fishery and forest resources that are essential to the lives of local communities. The stability and improvement that they bring to living standards contribute to sustainable development of the area in which they are planted.
■Indian Ocean tsunami from the earthquake off the island of Sumatra in December 2004
Mangrove plantation area in
Ranong, Thailand
The area behind the mangrove was protected from tsunami damage.
Tale Nok, near Ranong, Thailand, did not have mangroves. It was damaged by the tsunami.
■Ecosystem around mangroves
"100-Year Mangrove Plantation" Declaration
The Tokio Marine Group considers mangroves to be "insurance for the future of the Earth," because of the benefits that they bring to the globe and the people who live on it. We are committed to being involved in the mangrove plantation project for 100 years.
Green Lessons: The Mangrove Story
The Tokio Marine Group, together with its employees and agents, uses mangrove plantation to educate the public about environmental issues.
Since 2005, group employees and agents have served as lecturers, sent to elementary schools and schools for students with special needs throughout Japan under the environmental education program "Green Lessons: The Mangrove Story." By the end of March 2010, the program had taught approximately 23,000 children and students at approximately 330 schools about the prevention of global warming and preservation of ecosystems. Classes describe the impact that mangrove plantation has on the preservation of ecosystems and teach the importance of preserving biodiversity.
Green Lessons
