Cosmo Oil Co., Ltd. (Headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Capital: ¥107.2 billion; President: Yaichi Kimura) has been working with "Cosmo the Card Opus - Eco" and "Cosmo the Card - Eco" cardholders (hereinafter referred to as "Eco" cardholders) for global environmental contribution activities both in Japan and worldwide with the slogan of "Living with Our Planet." We are pleased to announce the FY2008 Activity Plan for the Cosmo Oil Eco Card Fund as follows:
1. Cosmo Oil Eco Card Fund
1)Number of "Eco" Cardholders and Major Contribution Money
The Cosmo Oil Eco Card Fund was established in April 2002, when the "Cosmo the Card Eco" card was launched and it celebrates its seventh year this April. In June 2006, the "Cosmo the Card Opus Eco" card was also launched. When combined, the two cards now have more than 86,600 members. The Cosmo Oil Eco Card Fund receives an annual donation of ¥500 from each Eco cardholder and operates with money combining such donations from the Eco cardholders with a portion of sales from the "Cosmo the Card" business, to fund "Living with Our Planet" global environmental contribution activity projects both in Japan and worldwide.
2)Donations from Members of the Cosmo Oil Group
Starting from April 2008, Cosmo Oil Lubricants Co., Ltd., a member company of the Cosmo Oil Group, donates an amount of money equivalent to 0.5% of sales from the Eco Series products (about ¥2.7 million per year) to the Cosmo Oil Eco Card Fund to help operate global environmental contribution activities. Cosmo Trade & Service Co., Ltd. and the Cosmo Center (a card service center) have also contributed part of their sales to the Fund, helping implement the "Living with Our Planet" projects.
2. "Living with Our Planet" Projects
"Living with Our Planet" projects promote a variety of activities by taking two approaches of supporting the sustainable growth of developing countries, which are expected to dramatically increase carbon dioxide emissions in the future, centering on global warming prevention efforts, and of providing environmental education support for children who will be the leaders of the future generation. We execute such projects through addressing a variety of social problems closely related to environmental issues so that we can live up to the slogan of "Living with Our Planet."
3. FY2008 Activity Plan
Project Execution Plan
For the fiscal year 2008, we will aim at conducting a broad range of environmental activities in order to put the slogan of "Living with Our Planet" into action. To this end, we will implement 12 programs of 7 projects for 7 countries and support some "small projects" we will publicly invite.
The FY2008 plan has a total budget of about ¥98.3 million to finance these "Living with Our Planet" projects (as compared with about ¥95.2 million actually spent in FY2007).
We will be working with the Eco cardholders and project partners of NGO/NPOs to ensure that our efforts even better represent global environmental contribution activities relevant to the theme of "Living with Our Planet." We hope that you will continue to provide support and cooperation for us in the future.
References:
Tropical Rainforest Conservation [ Action Area: Papua New Guinea ]- The project is designed to help more local people settle down in certain places to work on recycling-oriented organic farming. With the ultimate goal of making its operations self-supporting, the project includes on-going programs to improve the quality of a library of reference books housed in the model training farm and to help develop technical experts, and to provide farming skill acquisition training for prison inmates and to fertilize paddy fields for the promotion of organic farming across the country. In FY2008, programs include well drilling and artificial waterway construction toward the opening of the "Kokopo Eco Wildlife Park" designed to provide environmental education for local people.
- Tropical Rainforest Conservation [ Action Area: The Solomon Islands ]
- The project is designed to promote recycling-oriented organic farming in the country. The "Perma Culture Center (PCC)" is the base for the project, where human development has been made. People study organic farming techniques at the PCC and graduates return to their home villages to practice organic farming there. The Solomon Organic Center," the place to sell agricultural crops grown by them, has already started its operations by processing agricultural products and providing support for PCC graduates. We will also start the "Western Province Restoration Support" program to help the revival of the region hit by an earthquake in April 2007.
- South Pacific Countries Support [ Action Area: The Republic of Kiribati ]
- Kiribati is an island country now being seriously affected by global warming and the project helps provide emergency measures for the country. It has completed many achievements including rainwater storage tank installation and programs for FY2008 include mangrove tree planting to provide technical transfer and educational opportunities for government organization and school people and children. We will also inform Kiribati people of environmental damages to the entire South Pacific region and raise their awareness of environmental management.
- South Pacific Countries Support [ Action Area: Tuvalu ]
- Emergency measures have also been taken in Tuvalu. In FY2008, we will plant 1,000 mangrove trees in Funafala Islet particularly seriously affected environmentally in the country. Another program is to provide education for waste management by holding workshops to which experts will be invited. We will encourage local people to attend the workshops where they will be told about the environmental damage caused by the waste scattered across the island to prevent the damage from spreading any further.
- Silk Road Afforestation [ Action Areas: China ]
- The project is designed to plant and monitor seabuckthorn in the Huangtu Plateau. In November 2006, major afforestation sites were shifted from Shangxi Province to Gangsu Province. In FY2008, local nursery providers and farmers will take the lead to plant 120,000 seabuckthorn saplings in a 40-ha land area. Afforestation methods and data management and other monitoring services will also be continued to evaluate the planted areas and to overcome the anticipated challenges.
- Ecological Recovery Project of Forest in the Qinling Mountains [ Action Areas: China ]
- This project is designed to afforest areas of the Qinling Mountains. The afforesting efforts help revive the ecosystem in the region inhabited by endangered animal species to revitalize them. Even today, abandoned roads (former woodland paths) are left neglected in the north of the mountains, so that in FY2008, we will plant a total of 11,000 trees along the 14-km abandoned woodland paths. We will also continue the ecological observation of wild animals, such as golden snub-nosed monkeys and giant pandas, including how they are adapting to the environment and how they can survive.
- Recycling-Oriented Farming Support [ Action Area: The Philippines ]
- The project is designed to build recycling-oriented farming in the region by helping local people grow cassava potatoes and raise Eri-silkworms. In FY2008, we will continue programs to provide "technical training for trainers" to help them improve their skills in silkworm raising, yarn spinning, knitting and other businesses in the capital of the province of Palawan Island so that such trainers will in turn teach their acquired skills to local people in other areas. The micro-credit business giving a loan of some ¥200,000 to each person will also be continued on a probational basis.
- Environmental Education Support at School
- In FY2008, the project will support 13 elementary and junior high schools (one in Hokkaido, one in Iwate Prefecture, three in Miyagi Prefecture, one in Saitama Prefecture, three in Tokyo, two in Mie Prefecture, one in Kagoshima Prefecture and one in Okinawa Prefecture) with their environmental education programs. We will also utilize "EEkids," environmental education website, which is highly evaluated by guardians, where children from many elementary and junior high schools across Japan are encouraged to communicate with one another on the blog site by writing their questions and comments onto it.
- "Eco" Activity Participatory Environmental Education Project - Ken Noguchi Environmental School
- This project is designed to develop "environmental messengers," people who can think and take action to address environmental issues on their own, in many parts of Japan. As in FY2007, we will in FY2008 continue to host total five environmental classes for young people aged 12-20 in three places: Mount Fuji, Sado Island and the Ogasawara Islands. This year, participants will be asked to shoulder some part of the total costs incurred for the program to make it a self-supporting environmental education initiative. In December 2008, a "meeting" will be held for graduates from that school to get together to present their projects.
- "Eco" Activity Participatory Environmental Education Project - Seed Planting School
- The project is designed to plant and grow saplings in Furano, Hokkaido, to build sustainable natural forests there. With the goal of planting 10,000 saplings every year, we have been working on afforestation relevant to the natural environment in the region. In FY2008, we have a goal of planting 5,000 saplings and maintaining and managing the nurseries, including growing seedling beds and nursing seedlings. Experimental learning programs will also be provided to allow participants to actually sow and gather seeds and collect seeds from trees to raise their awareness of environmental protection.
- "Eco" Activity Participatory Environmental Education Project - Satoyama (Community Forests) Preservation School
- The project is designed to restore and preserve satoyama, which have been devastated. Up until 2006, it had been called the terraced paddy field preservation project and made a fresh start under the name of "Satoyama Preservation School" in FY2007. Now, in FY2008, the project will focus on the revival and preservation of the farmland, including the unused farm land (in which buckwheat and other miscellaneous cereals will be grown) and terraced paddy fields (in which purple rice crops will be grown). It will also offer online environmental education using the blog and provide opportunities for children to learn about the environment by visiting elementary and junior high schools to deliver classes.
