Brother Forests in Gujo Registered in International Database as an OECM

Brother Industries, Ltd. (President: Kazufumi Ikeda) today announced that "Brother Forests in Gujo," which it has been operating since 2008 for environmental protection, has been registered as an OECM^*1 in the international database managed by the UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC).

In 2008, Brother Industries, Gifu Prefecture and Gujo City signed an agreement to restore and conserve forests in three areas, including former ski resort sites in the towns of Shiratori, Minami, and Hachiman in Gujo, and has continued to carry out environmental protection activities. The area under the agreement is called "Brother Forests in Gujo," and tree planting activities have been carried out there twice a year in spring and fall^*2, mainly by employees and their families. In addition, since 2014, with the support of the Graduate School of Environmental Studies at Nagoya University, the activity has been expanded to include academic activities to form a trinity of industry, government, and academia. In Shiratori, in addition to zoning^*3 the areas where living things are active, seedlings appropriate for the soil were planted and the entire forest's environment was improved. This led to the confirmation of the presence of rare species, including the endemic Gifu butterfly, and the recovery of the ecosystem of the entire forest. In recognition of the effectiveness of these ongoing efforts, such as the effects of management and conservation of the area aimed at biodiversity in Brother Forests in Gujo, the site was certified as a "2023 natural symbiosis site (first half)" by the Ministry of the Environment in October 2023, leading to the registration.

In the Brother Group Environmental Vision 2050, Brother has made biodiversity conservation one of the Group's key social issues to engage with, and has defined its vision as "The Brother Group aims to minimize the environmental impact of its business operations on the ecosystem and conduct restoration and conservation of the ecosystem exceeding the impact." Within this effort, Brother Forests in Gujo is a symbolic base for the Brother Group's biodiversity conservation efforts. Brother will continue to engage in biodiversity conservation activities at Brother Forests in Gujo and new communication activities to raise awareness of environmental conservation, and will take a forward-looking and ongoing approach to considering the environmental impact in all aspects of its corporate activities.

• Click here for details on Brother's Forests in Gujo registration
  (Link to the Protected Planet website)

1. An acronym for Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures, which refers to areas that are not protected such as national parks, but where biodiversity can be effectively conserved.
2. Not implemented in FY2020, FY2021, or spring FY2022 due to COVID-19 prevention measures.
3. Developing a maintenance plan by dividing forests into areas to fully display their various functions.