Nippon Paper Industries Co., Ltd. (President: Masatomo Nakamura) is pleased to announce the acquisition of forest certification from the Sustainable Green Ecosystem Council (SGEC), Japan's unique forest certification system, for all Company-owned forests located in Hokkaido. The forests span 54 locations and total 43,674 hectares.

The certification follows the certifications obtained for the Company-owned forests in Kitayama, Shizuoka (673 hectares) and all of the Company-owned forests in Kyushu (18,317 hectares). The result is that the Company has acquired SGEC forest certification for about 70% of the 90,000 hectares of Company-owned domestic forests.

 

The forests that the Company owns in Hokkaido are located all around the prefecture, but are mainly found in East Hokkaido. These are natural forests comprising plantations of pine and cedar, which account for about 30% of the area, with softwoods, hardwoods and mixed woods accounting for the remainder.

Two thirds of the forests are used for forestry production activities and the remaining one third is appropriately managed as forests for preserving the natural environment. Some of the forests are designated as parts of the Akan National Park, Kushiro Shitsugen (Wetlands) National Park and Shikotsu-Toya National Park. The accreditation committee of the SGEC forest certification system (Japan Forest Technology Association; JAFTA) recognized that forestry activities are systematically being conducted with consideration being given to biological diversity and compatibility with the natural conditions in Hokkaido.

 

The Company is committed to conservation and the creation of forest resources. It has declared that corporate activities in harmony with the natural environment form the basic policy of its Environmental Charter, for example, by promoting the Tree Farm Initiative afforestation activities overseas and managing the Company-owned forests in harmony with the natural environment.

As a part of the Charter, the Company is planning to obtain forest certifications for all its overseas and domestically owned forests by 2008. The Company has acquired ISO14001 certification, the environmental management system that aims at ensuring sustainable forest management, for all Company-owned forests in countries other than Japan. In addition, the Company has acquired FSC (*1) in South Africa and AFS (*2) for some forests in Australia. AFS allows mutual recognition with PEFC (*3). In the Company-owned forests in Japan, the Company is promoting the acquisition of SGEC certification and is planning to obtain more certifications for the forests it owns in Honshu and Shikoku.