Ricoh Co., Ltd.
Conservation International
Ricoh Co., Ltd. has reached an agreement with the international environmental NGO Conservation International (CI) to donate funds to CI's 'Conservation Cocoa Project', which is operating in the Kakum conservation area in Ghana, West Africa. Ricoh is to donate US$ 7,600 to pay for part of the running costs of the project.
Ghana's Kakum conservation area comprises 366 square kilometers of land, and is made up of the Kakum National Park and the Assin-Attandaso Game Production Reserve. The land is part of the Guinea forest region of West Africa. It is one of the most ecologically diverse regions in the world, with around 250,000 species of wildlife living there. Increasing agricultural cultivation and forest clearing has, however, placed the natural forests in danger of destruction.
The Conservation Cocoa Project works in the areas at the edge of the natural tropical forests, cultivating cocoa (cacao) plants, which grow well in the shade of high trees, using organic farming methods. The project works to ensure that its farming methods maintain an environment that is as close as possible to the biodiversifed conditions of a natural forest. Through doing this, it is possible to continue farming without clearing the forest, and achieve the project's dual aims of offering a stable income for local people whilst conserving the natural environment.
Ricoh chose to support the Conservation Cocoa Project because the project's aims closely match Ricoh's current activities in support of 'conservation of ecosystems (forests) that support biodiversity', one of the stated aims of its 'Forest Conservation Program'. Ricoh and CI both sincerely hope that this move will enable other corporations to understand the purpose and value of the project by proving that the conservation of biodiversity and the economic development of agricultural areas can go hand in hand. They also hope to extend the potential for support for such activities.
The Conservation Cocoa Project is the second CI Project that Ricoh has supported so far. The first was the Sierra Madre Forest Conservation Project in the Philippines, which Ricoh began supporting in March 2000, and to which the company has pledged donations of 14.7 million yen over three years.
Information regarding the Conservation Cocoa Project
- The project has the joint aims of conserving the natural environment and improving the income of local inhabitants.
- The project aims to improve the income of local agricultural families and offer economic stability through creating a framework involving training local inhabitants in farming technology and product trading know-how, enabling them to achieve stable profits by establishing relationships with purchasing partners.
- Cocoa farms that exist interdependently with the forest can act as intermediate buffer zones, which link regions occupied by people to conservation areas in mutually beneficial ways. They also serve to create 'green corridors' between the islands of forest that have been left as a result of logging and deforestation in the region. These 'green corridors' encourage the restoration of the rich biodiversity of the region.
- CI has been working on the conservation of original forest in the Kakum National Park since 1992, thanks to the continued support of the US Agency for International Development (USAID). CI reached the conclusion in 1999 that increasing and stabilizing the income of people living in the regions surrounding the Park was an indispensable part of facilitating the conservation of the region's natural habitats, and as a result, began the Conservation Cocoa Project. This project is to be implemented at a grass-roots level and over a long term, and is expected to require funding on an ongoing basis.
- CI is implementing this project in partnership with the local agricultural organization, the Kaupa Kokoo Union, and the 300 farmers which make up its members, as well as in cooperation with the Ghanaian government in matters of policy and field studies.
Information Regarding Conservation International
CI was founded as an international NGO in 1987, with its headquarters in Washington DC, USA. It has the dual aims of investigating new ways of conserving natural habitats in order to maintain global biodiversity, whilst at the same time meeting the economic needs of people whose livelihoods depend on the natural resources of these areas. CI defines countries and regions it considers as global priorities 'Hotspots', in order to maximize the effectiveness of its work, and develops concentrated levels of activities in these areas. CI has a staff of over 1000 operating in more than 30 countries, and they are active in many fields, working in partnership with governments, international organizations, corporations, NGOs and other agencies.
For further information please contact:
Ricoh, Inc. Public Relations Department
1-15-5, Minami Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-8544
Tel: 03-5411-4511 (direct line)
Email: koho@ricoh.co.jp
URL: http://www.ricoh.co.jp/
Conservation International
PO Box 1502
39F, Shinjuku Island Tower
6-5-1 Nishi Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 163-1339
Tel: 03-3344-6627
Email: cijapan@qb3.so-net.ne.jp
URL: http://www.conservation.org
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