As indicated in Ricoh's Environmental Principles, introduced in 1992, the Ricoh Group does not see environmental conservation activities and business management as two incompatible issues. Instead, we see conservation of the global environment as a natural responsibility as a global citizen. Conservation of the global environment requires measures not only to reduce impact of our business operations and products on the environment but also to maintain and improve the self-recovery capabilities of the global environment. Recognizing that our businesses depend on the global ecosystem and that biodiversity plays an indispensable role in the health of the ecosystem, the Ricoh Group laid down the Ricoh Group Biodiversity Guidelines.
This is to further develop the various conservation measures we have been taking, such as ecosystem conservation activities, promotion of voluntary activities by employees, and "social contribution in environmental conservation" (e.g., awareness-raising programs to encourage other community members), and ecosystem preservation through CDM projects. To these measures, we have added measures to reduce the impact of our business activities on biodiversity by using the new policy as our basic guideline on biodiversity preservation.
Ricoh Group's global environmental conservation
—Keep environmental impact within the self-recovery capabilities of the Earth—
Ricoh Group Biodiversity Guidelines |
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Human society largely depends on the ecosystem. But our society has had a tremendous impact on the ecosystem, placing a wide-scale burden upon it. In the past 50 years, the biodiversity has been badly degraded due to human activities. If we do not act now to start conserving the biodiversity and change our way of using natural resources to a more sustainable approach, the survival of human society may even be at risk. To articulate this idea in a concrete form, the Ricoh group laid down the Ricoh Group Biodiversity Guidelines in March 2009.
The Guidelines combined the existing measures of the Group toward global environmental conservation and new measures for biodiversity conservation to help develop and promote specific activities. With these Guidelines, the Ricoh Group will continue our efforts to realize an affl uent society built on a sustainable global environment.
Development of biodiversity conservation activities |
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Development of biodiversity conservation activities
 (Ricoh/Global)
Biodiversity conservation activities at the Ricoh Group first started in 1999, when we started the Forest Ecosystem Conservation Project with environmental NGOs and local communities throughout the world. This was to recognize our responsibility as a manufacturer of products that uses a good amount of paper to engage in the conservation of forest resources. Also in 1999, we started the Environmental Volunteer Leader Development Program to encourage employees to take initiative in environmental conservation activities.
In 2003, we laid down the Environmental Standards for Paper Product Procurement as a measure for conservation of precious natural forests throughout the world. Since 2006, the Ricoh Global Environment Month Symposium has been held with biodiversity as the theme to promote understanding and cooperation in biodiversity conservation activities among different corporations. In 2008, when the Japan Business Initiative for Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity (JBIB) was established, we helped the organization as one of the founding members with the goal of promoting cooperation and active involvement of various companies in biodiversity conservation.
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Ricoh's biodiversity conservation
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Actions taken |
| 1999 |
Forest Ecosystem Conservation Project started for biodiversity conservation |
| Environmental Volunteer Leader Development Program started |
| 2002 |
Ecosystem conservation activities incorporated into the Environmental Action Plan |
| Use of FSC-certified paper started |
| Environmental website for children opened with a theme of the Forest Ecosystem Conservation Project |
| 2003 |
Environmental Standards for Paper Product Procurement laid down |
| 2004 |
CDM project (forestation for biodiversity conservation in Ecuador) started |
| Display of ecosystem conservation activities started at the exhibition on Eco-Products |
| 2006 |
Ricoh Global Environment Month Symposium started with a theme on biodiversity |
| 2007 |
Feasible biodiversity assessment indices studied |
| 2008 |
Became a member of Japan Business Initiative for Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity (JBIB) |
| Signed the Leadership Declaration on the "Business and Biodiversity Initiative" |
| Influence of activities on biodiversity identified for each business area, principle ideas laid down |
Declaration on Business and Biodiversity (Ricoh/Global)
Ricoh signed the Leadership Declaration on the "Business and Biodiversity Initiative" at the ninth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP9), held in Germany in May 2008. This initiative led by the German Government calls on businesses to take leading action to reduce degradation of biodiversity. The signatory corporations set voluntary goals, carry out assessment of the impact of their business activities on biodiversity, and incorporate countermeasures into environmental management systems.
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Raising the awareness of employees of the relationships humans share with nature  (Ricoh/Japan)
The survival of human society is possible only due to biodiversity. If we are to realize a sustainable society, therefore, it is essential that each and every one of us gets actively involved in the conservation of biodiversity, the basis of the global environment's self-recovery capabilities. Based on the Ricoh Group Biodiversity Guidelines created in March 2009, we published the Biodiversity Conservation Activity Handbook to teach our employees the value of biodiversity and show them what each of them can do to conserve biodiversity. In April 2009, we started a website for environmental information called "Gaiaia," to encourage employees to take an interest in biodiversity conservation.
In addition to these programs, we are planning to offer study sessions and fieldwork sessions to learn and understand the mechanisms of the global environment from the perspective of other life forms on Earth. We will continue to provide opportunities for employees to raise their awareness and take good actions to conserve biodiversity in the course of their daily work and private life.
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Biodiversity Conservation Activity Handbook |
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Gaiaia: Environmental website for raising employees' awareness of environmental conservation. |
Mapping of relationship between business activities and biodiversity
(Ricoh Group/Global)
The Ricoh Group created a map to show the exact relationship between our business activities and biodiversity. The "Map of Corporate Activities and Biodiversity" follows the JBIB format to show the relationship between corporate activities, such as product lifecycle and land use, and biodiversity at a glance. From the map, we learned that the copier industry has a large impact on the ecosystem during procurement of raw materials (e.g., paper pulp and metals) and during manufacturing (particularly in regard to water resources). We will use the information from the map in our conservation activities in close cooperation with each business division.
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Map of Corporate Activities and Biodiversity (Recycled multifunctional digital copiers)
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