Oji seeks optimal approaches to nurturing and utilizing forests

Oji Holdings, Japan’s leading paper maker, owns and manages 635,000 hectares of forests across the globe. Forest resources — for wood, paper and wood-derived materials or for biomass power generation — are attracting increased attention as sustainable resources. However, their sustainability hinges on how they are utilized and managed.Oji, who has been planting trees for 100 years,, places forests at the core of its business and engages in a range of activities aimed at maintaining healthy forests and enhancing the well-being of the people involved in its forest management initiatives across the globe. Additionally, it strives to accurately assess the multifaceted value of forests and leverage them to boost its overall value.

In a recent interview with The Japan Times, Hiromi Yamamoto, manager of Oji’s Forest Value-Creation and Promotion Department, said the total number of employees engaged in afforestation activities abroad is 13,000, and the company has established production facilities in 23 countries.

Many of the company’s forests are located in remote areas where social services and infrastructure are often limited. “In response, we have been providing health checkups in communities of these areas, primarily in Southeast Asian countries. To date, a total of 3,000 people in Vietnam and 5,500 in Indonesia have benefited from this initiative,” Yamamoto said.

In the field of education, the company provides environmental education programs in Japan and abroad. Since 2004, Oji has offered a summer program for elementary school children to visit its forests and engage in hands-on activities in Japan. “In New Zealand, we have conducted environmental education programs at schools since 2008, with over 10,000 students participating to date. Similarly, our programs offered in Brazil have been attended by 4,300 students over the past three years,” Yamamoto said.

Oji provides support for local businesses, including farmers and beekeepers, as well as for infrastructure.

It is also engaging with stakeholders from outside Japan in an effort to quantify the values of forests. One example of this is its collaboration with Pivotal, a U.K.-based startup that provides the comprehensive analysis of biodiversity by using AI which is made possible by the use of drones, cameras, acoustic sensors and environmental DNA and other technologies. “This is the first attempt of this kind of biodiversity evaluation in Japan. In Europe, this type of technology, which is called ‘nature tech,’ is gaining momentum. In this context, we sought a partner to collaborate with and identified Pivotal as a potential partner,” Yamamoto said.

One of the objectives of this collaboration is to analyze natural areas in Japan and present the findings to the world. It is important to recognize that nature is not uniform. The optimal approach to conserving and nurturing natural resources varies by place, influenced by factors such as climate, geography and history.

“In Europe, forest conservation requires a strategy of restoration from overuse. In Japan, where forests are generally underused, forests need to be managed by adequately using forest resources,” Yamamoto said.

Approximately 60% of the total forest area in Japan is natural, though not all of it is pristine. There are forests, often referred to as satoyama, that have been well maintained through human interventions such as the use of bamboo and wood for building and fuel. However, many of them are now abandoned. Some of the man-made forests planted with timber trees, such as cedar and cypress, have also been left untouched due to the decline in timber production. This is not only a waste of resources but also poses a potential risk because the soil in these neglected forests is generally subject to degradation due to insufficient sunlight and a lack of varied vegetation and creatures.

Cutting down trees may be harmful to nature in one place, yet be a way to conserve it in another. Yamamoto emphasized the need to scientifically and quantitatively analyze the state of Japan’s forests, and to determine which measures are the most effective in conserving nature in Japan.

“The efforts to quantify nature and to use the result to conserve or regenerate nature should come in one package. In the near future, when natural capital becomes part of financial assets in the accounting standard, turning the result of such efforts into natural capital credits will lead to an increase in our asset value,” she said.

However, she warned that this shift to natural capital accounting needs to happen quickly because the rate of natural degradation is critical. To accelerate change, promote the benefits of forests and increase the presence of forest-related industries at international conferences, Oji founded the International Sustainable Forestry Coalition in September 2023 with like-minded companies from around the world and is working with other member companies to achieve its mission of “helping society build a nature-positive bioeconomy by making the best possible use of forests and forest products.” This accords with Oji’s corporate purpose: “Grow and manage the sustainable forest, develop and deliver the products from renewable forest, and Oji will bring this world a brighter future filled with hope.”