The Tokio Marine Group is promoting initiatives for the preservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

The Tokio Marine Group engages in global business, using paper, energy and other resources around the world. Our business therefore imposes a burden on the global environment. The insurance industry consumes large amounts of paper resources in particular, and we pay attention to the impact that we have on forest ecosystems.

The Tokio Marine Group is conducting the following programs in coordination with its stakeholders to reduce our burden on the global environment and biodiversity and help preserve biodiversity.

Tokio Marine & Nichido supports The Declaration of Biodiversity by Nippon Keidanren and in January 2010 joined the Promotion Partners program under the declaration. Our business activities comply with the declaration and its behavioral guidelines.

(Summary of program)
Our Eco-friendly products and services enable us to contribute to protection of the global environment in partnership with our customers and agents.
Tokio Marine & Nichido encourages its customers to opt for Web-based insurance contracts (clauses), which are available for viewing on the Web instead of in paper form, for auto, fire and other insurance. In the Green Gift Project, every time a policyholder chooses this option, we donate funds for the planting of two mangrove saplings to a mangrove planting project.

(Program impact)
By choosing Web contracts, our customers help us to save paper resources. At the same time, they also help to reduce environmental impacts from paper production, transportation to the company, delivery to the customer and disposal as waste. In addition, Tokio Marine's contribution to a mangrove planting project provides various benefits to the Earth, because of the effectiveness of mangroves in preventing global warming and preserving ecosystems. We look forward to continuing this project in the future and to contributing to the conservation of paper resources, prevention of global warming and preservation of biodiversity.

(Summary of program)
Since 1999, the Tokio Marine Group has been conducting a mangrove planting [plantation] project primarily in Southeast Asia, recognizing that mangroves are the "forests in the sea," an important component in protection of the global environment and conservation of ecosystems whose numbers have been depleted through large-scale deforestation. During the 11-year period to fiscal 2010, we planted 6,824 hectares in seven countries covering Southeast Asia, Fiji and India.
This project is conducted in partnership with the NGOs Action for Mangrove Reforestation (ACTMANG), The Organization for Industrial, Spiritual and Cultural Advancement-International (OISCA) and International Society for Mangrove Ecosystems (ISME).

(Relationship between mangrove planting and biodiversity)
Mangroves help to prevent global warming by absorbing and stabilizing large volumes of CO₂. They also play the role of a levee, protecting people and the ecosystem from tsunamis and other natural disasters.
In addition, mangroves are known as the "cradle of life" for the key role that they play in nurturing rich ecosystems and serving as the source of the coastal food chain.

(Program impact)
"Mangrove" is a generic term for flora that thrives along tropical and subtropical coastlines and river mouths. Mangroves are sometimes referred to as the "forests in the sea." They have many benefits for human beings and the Earth.
Mangroves absorb and stabilize large volumes of CO₂, one of the factors in global warming, thus contributing to the prevention of global warming.
They also serve as natural levees to protect people from tsunamis and other disasters. Mangroves protected and saved the lives of many people from the tsunami that occurred in the Indian Ocean as a result of the earthquake off the island of Sumatra in December 2004.
The roots of mangrove trees also serve as a "cradle of life," providing a safe space where fish can spawn and small fish, crabs, shrimp and other animals thrive in a rich ecosystem.
Mangroves provide fishery and forest resources that are essential to the lives of local communities. The stability and improvement that they bring to living standards contribute to sustainable development of the area in which they are planted.

Mangrove planting area in Ranong, Thailand, in which the area behind the mangroves was protected from tsunami damage

Tale Nok near Ranong, Thailand, which did not have mangroves, was damaged by the tsunami.

The Tokio Marine Group considers mangroves as "insurance for the future of the Earth" because they protect the planet and people's lives and bring benefits. We are committed to being involved in the mangrove planting project for 100 years.

The Tokio Marine Group, together with its employees and agents, conducts environmental education via planting mangroves in addition to activities to enhance environmental awareness.

Since 2005, group employees and agents have served as lecturers, sent to elementary schools and schools for students with special needs throughout Japan under the environmental education program "Green Lessons: The Mangrove Story." By the end of March 2011, the program had taught approximately 30,600 children and students at approximately 440 schools about the prevention of global warming and preservation of biodiversity and ecosystems. Classes describe the impact that mangrove planting has on the preservation of ecosystems and teach the importance of preserving biodiversity.

Research related to the economic impact of mangrove forests on biodiversity was reported in The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) study, which was launched at the 10th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP10) in 2010. Based on the study results, Tokio Marine & Nichido conducted a preliminary calculation of the economic benefits of mangrove planting project in Thailand in cooperation with Ernst & Young ShinNihon Sustainability Institute Co., Ltd.