Nippon Paper Industries Co., Ltd. (President: Takahiko Miyoshi), Japan's leading paper and pulp manufacturing company and the core member of the Nippon Unipac Holding Group, has drawn up action guidelines concerning the use of forest certification programs. The guidelines are part of the company's initiatives for conservation of the environment.

 

Deforestation and illegal logging of trees emerged as serious global problems in the late 20th century. To resolve these issues, companies must take the initiative in promoting Sustainable Forest Management. Nippon Paper Industries has declared that creating and protecting forest resources will be one of the most important action guidelines in its Environmental Charter. Accordingly, the Company has procured woodchips only from properly managed forests, and has promoted overseas afforestation projects to develop sustainable forest resources.

 

Recently, forest certification programs have been introduced in a number of countries and regions, in which a third-party organization evaluates whether Sustainable Forest Management is being properly conducted. By establishing action guidelines that focus on forest certification, the Company is further promoting raw material procurement in a way that places importance on harmony between the natural environment and the Company's operations.

 

Nippon Paper Industries has carried out the "Tree Farm Initiative," or overseas afforestation projects to cover a target land area of at least 100,000 hectares. The Company has begun efforts to acquire ISO14001, widely recognized as a scheme to promote continuous improvement in environmental performance, for all its overseas forests. The standard shall be used to establish the Company's environmental management system for Sustainable Forest Management. The Company has already obtained ISO14001 certification for its Tree Farm in South Africa and for certain forests in Australia, and expects to obtain the certificate for its Tree Farm in Chile by the end of 2003.

 

In Japan, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is well known as a forest certification scheme that could lead to labeling. However, the recent trend is towards mutual recognition of credible national or regional forest certification schemes that have been developed to meet internationally recognized requirements for Sustainable Forest Management. Nippon Paper Industries plans to obtain forest certificates that it believes are best suited for the region rather than adhering to any specific forest certification program.

For domestic forests owned by the Company, it is seeking to acquire a certificate by Sustainable Green Ecosystem Council (SGEC), which was established on June 3, 2003.

 

Of imported hardwood chips, 100% shall be from certified trees or planted trees by 2008.

Nippon Paper Industries is the core company of the Nippon Unipac Holding Group. It is responsible for procuring woodchips for the Group. To date, the Company has promoted the use of planted trees and has procured raw materials only from natural forests that are managed properly, to help conserve the environment and to take into account the socioeconomic impact.

 

In the future, the Company will continue working to obtain forest certification for its own forests, and will use the forest certification programs as the standards for procurement of raw materials. Accordingly, by 2008, all imported hardwood chips will either have been produced in certified forests or will be from planted forests.