Toyota starts tree-planting efforts in the Philippines

TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION (TMC) announced today that it has started working on tree-planting activities in the town of Peñablanca, Cagayan Province (about 500km north of Manila), located in the north of the Filipino island of Luzon. The tree-planting activities are being conducted in the form of a joint project with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in the Philippines, the Peñablanca Municipal Government and Conservation International (CI), an environmental NGO, with 1,772ha of land to be afforested over a three-year period starting September 2007.

To commemorate the commencement of activities, a signing ceremony for the four-party project was held today, in the presence of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at Malacañang Palace, the Philippines.

By providing the reforestation expertise and tree-planting techniques developed through its activities in China, TMC seeks to create a system in the Philippines, where deforestation is a serious problem, that combines both a means of supporting the livelihood of local communities and reforestation. Specifically, it will establish a forest for harvesting fuel wood and urge local residents to cultivate cash crops, such as mango and cocoa, to combat logging for fuel wood and slash-and-burn agricultural methods—the causes of deforestation. To these ends, TMC will contribute 170 million yen in funds. Furthermore, Toyota Motor Philippines Corporation, a local corporation, will provide a Toyota Hilux pickup truck free of charge for the tree-planting activities.

TMC, on the occasion of its 70th anniversary this year, intends to more actively pursue sustainability in the three fields of RandD, manufacturing and social contribution. As part of this effort, TMC is engaged in a variety of environmental efforts and recognizes that reforestation is increasingly important from the perspective of improving the global environment.