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Initiatives to conserve biodiversity
All Shiseido products derive from the bounty of the Earth. It is critical that we conserve this bounty in the form of biodiversity so that we can continue to make use of it in the future. We must be aware that we are benefiting from the bounty of the Earth when we create products, and we must strive to conserve it in all its forms throughout the product life cycle. Shiseido places the conservation of the Earth's bounty at the core of its environmental activities, and we have put forth a statement of this policy entitled "Biodiversity at Shiseido."
Initiatives for the issue of palm oil
The demand for palm oil, which is a raw material for food and cosmetics, has been drastically increasing in recent years. Tropical rainforests of elaeis guineensis, which is the raw material, have been illegally logged for major plantation developments, and endangered wildlife and effect for global warming from reduced forests have become issues. Shiseido has been participating in the "RSPO: Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil," which was established with the aim of conserving the environment and promoting and operating sustainable palm oil industry, since 2010. Based on the RSPO conference in March, 2012, we have declared to switch all of palm oil and palm kernel oil used by the Shiseido Group with palm oil certified by the RSPO by 2013. This is also released on the RSPO website.
The wild orangutan that inhabit the rainforest
The employee listening to the description of the oil palm
Other initiatives
Since fiscal 2010, Shiseido has been supporting the activities of the non-profit organization Earthwatch Japan by participating as a volunteer in a variety of field research projects both in Japan and overseas. We also joined the Japan Business Initiative for Biodiversity (JBIB) in fiscal 2011. In addition to continuing to examine potential solutions to biodiversity-related issues by actively participating in these groups' meetings and workshops, we will pursue opportunities to cooperate with a broad range of stakeholders.
Jaguar biological research (Brazil)
Dormouse biological research (Kiyosato, Japan)
Coral reef research (Okinawa, Japan)
No.070
Tree-planting and conservation activities in Shiseido Tsubaki Forest
In February 2009, Shiseido signed an agreement to participate in Wakayama Prefecture's Company Forest program and planted some 3,000 Japanese camellia trees on about 1.7 hectares of land in Shirahama-cho, Nishimuro-gun, Wakayama Prefecture. This was the start of a 10-year program of forest protection activities. When the Company held its forest volunteer activity in October 2009, more than 100 volunteers including employees and their families planted trees and cut back underbrush.
We plan to continue to conserve the Shiseido Tsubaki Forest by continuing annual volunteer activities.
First volunteer activity
No.069
Research on KODA
Stimulatory effect of KODA on rhizogenesis of cuttage of Somei-yoshino
Shiseido has discovered through conducting joint research*1 with Sumitomo Forestry Co., Ltd. that KODA (α-Ketol-OctadecaDienoic Acid), which is a new type of natural plant fatty acid with the stimulatory effect of activating flower initiation (process of flower formation), has a stimulatory effect on rhizogenesis (root formation) of cuttage. Application of this effect has significantly increased the cutting propagation rate of Somei-yoshino cherry trees through cuttage, for which root formation was previously considered unstable.
Subsequently, together with Sumitomo Forestry, Shiseido has succeeded in the propagation of successor saplings originating from camellia trees that are over 300 years old at Reikan Temple in Kyoto as well as 350 years old Camellia Sasanqua trees at Ankokuron Temple in Kamakura city that were in danger of dying due to decay. The stimulatory effect of KODA on rhizogenesis has contributed to preventing the loss of a "diversity of species" from a biodiversity perspective.
Research on KODA started with developing cosmetic ingredients through plant tissue cultures. We are now researching in the joint project*2 on the development of flower initiation control technology of fruit trees. In addition, various research into KODA is currently underway in such areas as the agricultural products in which yields are declining due to global warming. Such technology is expected to contribute to the impact on agricultural products caused by climate change, which is induced by global warming.
The partners won the 18th Chemical and Bio Technology Prize for their discovery of KODA.
*1 Joint research project ("Enhancement of CO2 sinks by improvement of afforestation technology in tropical forests") funded by the Environment Research & Technology Development Fund administered by the Ministry of the Environment
*2 Joint research project ("Development of flower initiation control technology of fruit trees using KODA") supported by a grant-in-aid from the Research and Development Program for New Bio-industry Initiatives
No.053
Tree-Planting Activities in China
In April 2008, Shiseido launched a 10-year tree planting program in the city of Lanzhou in China's Gansu Province.
In the 6th activity implemented in April of 2013, over 90 persons in total, including volunteer employees from the Shiseido Group in China and Japan, government officials and clients from Gansu and Lanzhou City, and teachers and students from the Shiseido Group's scholarship target colleges (repayment is not required for this scholarship), participated.
The participated employees provided comments such as "The desertification on the site has spread to the wider area than I thought. I hope that the plants we planted on the precipitous slope will actually grow here," "I want to participate in this activity next year, too," and "I want to tell my colleagues who could not come this year about this activity".
The total number of trees that we have planted for 5 years until 2012 is approximately 68,000 trees and the rate of their taking root and growing is over 92%; therefore, it means that we have made the waste land green with the size of 7.5 Tokyo Domes.
The initiative seeks to contribute to Chinese society, including by deepening the bonds of friendship between Japan and China, protecting the environment by reducing CO2, and creating opportunities for local employment.
| Location | Lanzhou city, Gansu Province, China |
|---|---|
| Planting area | Approx. 36ha |
| No. of trees | Approx. 68,000 (April 2008, to December 2012) |
| Program duration | Approx. 10 years |
A monument commemorating the tree-planting base
Volunteers plant trees
No.033-2
Volunteers Plant Mangrove Trees in Thailand
In September 2010, 25 local employees of Shiseido Thailand Co., Ltd., a Shiseido Group sales company in Thailand, volunteered to plant 250 mangrove trees at the Klongkhon Mangrove Forest Conservation Center in Samutsongkhram Province, approximately a 90-minute drive from the city of Bangkok.
Shiseido Thailand previously cooperated in a mangrove rehabilitation project organized by the city of Bangkok in December 2008. For that project, 2,600 mangrove trees were planted together with an elementary school adjacent to wetlands containing the mangrove habitat. The company also planted 500 teak trees in the following year of 2009.
Mangroves can grow into robust trees about three years after they are planted. Under good conditions, they can grow at the rate of one meter per year. Since mangroves absorb atmospheric CO2, mangrove forests are expected to provide preventative effects against global warming.
Shiseido Thailand plans to continue to promote mangrove tree planting activities in order for future generations to inherit a more beautiful Earth.
Shiseido Thailand employee volunteers
Tree planting
