CSR

[ISO 26000 Core Subject] Environment

The Fujikura Group aims to become a corporate group that is friendly to both people and the global environment. As a means to attain this goal, we have established and begun to apply the Group's guidelines on biodiversity conservation this fiscal year. Biodiversity refers to the diversity of ecosystems, species and genes. All creatures on Earth are directly or indirectly connected with and supported by each other based on biodiversity, which brings about many blessings such as rich ecosystems, and also supports our lives and daily living. Each and every employee of the Group is expected to be keenly aware of this fact and to conduct their business operations in line with the Group's guidelines on biodiversity conservation.

The following shows the relationships between Fujikura Group activities and biodiversity.

The UN declared 2010 to be the International Year of Biodiversity. In addition, the 10th Conference of Parties (COP 10) on the Convention on Biological Diversity was held in Nagoya, Japan that year, making 2010 a memorable and keystone year for biodiversity in Japan. In November 2010, our Group established the Fujikura Kiba Millennium Woods, a biotope of approximately 2,200 m² located in Tokyo’s central Kiba area, where there is little nature to be found otherwise. The opening of the Millenium Woods was the beginning of our efforts for securing biodiversity.

At present, many creatures are being driven to extinction dueto global warming and the industrial production. To expand our Group-wide efforts in securing biodiversity and actively protecting species from extinction, in January 2013we formulated “Roadmap 2030: the Fujikura Group Long-term Vision for Biodiversity.”

We’ve continued to advance with these efforts based on recommendations received during the 2015 fiscal year stakeholder dialogue with President Yutaka Akazawa of SERCO Corporation.

In partnership with the Global Environment Committee and as part of the “Roadmap 2030: the Fujikura Group Long-term Vision for Biodiversity” plan, the Fujikura Group’s CSR Committee made a visit to the Sakura and Suzuka offices in order to check on the status of biodiversity efforts within the offices. Also, in February 2016 we invited four specialists from the biodiversity consulting company SERCO Corporation to the Sakura officein order to receive their expert advice and proposals.

The Sakura works in Sakura City, Chiba Prefecture is proactive in utilizing the natural greenery that is richly abundant across their business premises. They are also employing a perspective rooted in activities based on the “Roadmap 2030: the Fujikura Group Long-term Vision for Biodiversity” that was formulated by the Global Environment Committee as well as activities in employee health management based on the Group’s Health Management Declaration. The organization responsible for promoting these activities is the Sakura Works Vitalization Committee.

The Suzuka works in Suzuka City, Mie Prefecture is proactive in utilizing and managing the natural greenery that’s richly abundant across their business premises; employing a perspective rooted in activities based on the “Roadmap 2030: the Fujikura Group Long-term Vision for Biodiversity”. The roadmap was formulated by the Global Environment Committee as well as employee health management based on the Group’s Health Management Declaration together with environmental improvement in cooperation with the local community.

As part of their activities in the 2015 fiscal year, employees at the Suzuka works carried out biological surveying and confirmed the maintenance and management status of green spaces on their business premises.

The Sakura Works of Fujikura Ltd. participates in the Chiba network of companies for biodiversity conservation as part of the Fujikura Group biodiversity conservation activities. The network was founded on April 1, 2013 by the Chiba prefectural government to support companies in conducting biodiversity conservation activities in a sustainable manner, and to contribute to achieving the Aichi Biodiversity Targets of the Convention on Biological Diversity by 2020. Companies participating in the network are implementing measures in collaboration with Chiba Prefecture and related support organizations.

As part of the activities conducted by the Chiba network of companies for biodiversity conservation, an exhibition space was established in March within the cafeteria of the Sakura Plant with support from the Chiba Biodiversity Center, where panels on biodiversity provided by the Center are displayed and copies of the brochures and PR magazines published by the Center are distributed. We hope that this space will be utilized to provide information about biodiversity to employees as well as those who visit the Plant for business meetings or other purposes.

As part of activities within the business network of Biodiversity Chiba, the members visited the Fujikura Kiba Millennium Woods biotope (which neighbors Fujikura headquarters in Koto Ward, Tokyo) as well as the biotope at the Shimizu Corporation’s technical research institute. Though these are biotopes in an urban environment, they presented the opportunity for very meaningful visits where participants can see with their own eyes the diversity of life that exists even here in the center of the city.

We participated in a native species planting project "Edo's Midori Revival Project" which the Tokyo Metropolitan Government will collaborate with.
This initiative is carried out for two years from April 2014, in conjunction three companies that have carried out native species planting and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, consider the measures for the spread of native species planting in conjunction with related industries want did.
We targeted "Fujikura Kiba Millennium Woods", investigated issues on planting management and invented solutions, surveyed opinions of neighboring residents, surveyed living things in the park, etc.
The 2016 Native Planting Forum for Biodiversity Recovery was held in Tokyo in January 2016, with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government reporting on the results of biodiversity efforts over the previous two years. Through use of the Fujikura Kiba Millennium Woods, we hope to cooperate in the creation of a living environment for the future as well as cherish the environmental communication we share with local residents. The 2016 Native Planting Forum for Biodiversity Recovery was held in Tokyo in January 2016, with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government reporting on the results of biodiversity efforts over the previous two years. Through use of the Fujikura Kiba Millennium Woods, we hope to cooperate in the creation of a living environment for the future as well as cherish the environmental communication we share with local residents.

From April 2014, the Fujikura Group participated for a total of two years in the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s Edo Midori Green Restoration Project, which aimed to expand and popularize the planting of native species. As one of the activities within this project, we aimed to gather information on the life present in the Fujikura Kiba Millennium Woods, working towards effective biological monitoring with a goal to measure the effect had on securing biodiversity and the incentivizing effect that the planting of native flora had on living creatures. We launched our biological investigations with the completion of a database system for recording information on living creatures in August 2014.

The biological survey was handled by members (employees) of the Environmental Administrators Council for the Company's head office region, with survey information entered into the database system. In addition, the data input was revised through periodic biological assessment by experts, allowing us to efficiently collect accurate information on a variety of living creatures by improving the accuracy of our biological classification. By the end of March 2016, about 230 employees had participated in the biological survey of the Millenium Woods as survey staff, with about 1,900 units of information (including fixed point automatic photographic shooting) collected on life within the woods. Additionally, in regards to future utilization of the database of living creatures, we believe it will prove useful for realizing the woodland creation plans and ideas that are underway at each of our business offices within the Companyas per the Group Biodiversity Guidelines-based ”Roadmap 2030: the Fujikura Group Long-term Vision for Biodiversity” plan(established in 2013).

Just as the flowers were at their prettiest and the greenery at its lushest, we had five people from local municipality, including the Director for the Natural Environment; take a tour of the Fujikura Kiba Millennium Woods biotope. In partnership with the local government and using the Millennium Woods as our base, the Group had been promoting efforts to tackle a variety of issues over the past two years starting in the 2014 fiscal year through the Edo Midori Green Revival Project, a project aimed at popularizing the planting of native species. During the visit, we showcased our achievements in the planting of native species over the past two years and introduced the Millenium Woods and its many living creatures as a biotope representing a visionary effort in native planting. After the tour, our visitors talked about the “Millenium Woods” concept, issues in native planting, and future endeavors in a conversation with the Company’s president. We communicated the Group’s policy for the active promotion of activities toward securing biodiversity (for example, the protection of endangered species) together with our participation in a variety of activities, including those that expand on the planting of native species as advanced by local municipalities.

Fujikura-Kiba Millennium Woods was created as a biotope garden for local communities adjacent to the head office of Fujikura Ltd. in November 2010. The bio-garden extends over 2,200 square meters and consists of two ponds connected by a brook, a floating island, and a promenade. It is designed to reproduce a part of the rich forest that existed on the Musashino Terrace several hundred years ago. Since fiscal 2014, Fujikura Ltd. has been participating in the Tokyo metropolitan government's project to plant native species for the restoration of greenery from the Edo period, and employees have been conducting surveys on living creatures in the bio-garden under this project. A range of birds and insects can be observed in the Woods, through which we are committed to contributing to the restoration of ecosystems in the urban district. In the Woods, two groups of baby spot-billed ducks were observed leaving their nests in fiscal 2015, while baby kingfishers and spot-billed ducks were also seen leaving their nests in May 2015.

Each spring and fall, we hold a biotope briefing session for local residents explaining our biodiversity initiatives within the Fujikura Kiba Millennium Woods located on the head office grounds. The 2015 spring briefing session was held on May 20 among the rich green of spring vegetation. This session was the fifth overall, and over 130 people from the local area attended. During the session, we explained to our visitors that the Millennium Woods is not a standard park but a biotope where “living creatures exist in nature” and that it is our attempt to recreate the nature of Musashino (the plains where much of greater Tokyo now stands) when it existed hundreds of years ago.

Following the seminar held in May, we held another one on biotopes on November 20, 2015, the best season for viewing colored leaves.