Conserving Ecosystems and Biodiversity

• 

  The logo for the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity

At the 10th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD-COP 10) held in Nagoya in October 2010, participants adopted the so-called "Aichi target," which calls on the international community to take effective and urgent action to ensure that ecosystems are resilient by 2020, with a view to realize a world in which humankind co-exists harmoniously with nature by 2050.

This was followed by the declaration of the "United Nations Decade on Biodiversity," starting from 2011. Numerous discussions will be necessary to formulate concrete policies going forward; however, new business frameworks and social systems needed to sustain life and people's livelihoods are beginning to take shape.

The Ajinomoto Group uses a variety of living resources from around the world with the concept of "working for life." Accordingly, from early on the group began developing a business model to enable it to use living resources in a sustainable manner. This has led to expectations for the Ajinomoto Group to firmly ground its business in the communities where it operates as it develops globally. Having adopted this important role, the group is pursuing new business opportunities in the new environmental era.

Toward this end, in the Ajinomoto Group's 2011–2013 Medium-Term Environmental Conservation Plan, the group has positioned the protection of biodiversity and sustainable usage of ecosystem services as important policies designed to contribute to the creation of a sustainable society through business activities. On this basis, the Ajinomoto Group is undertaking strategic management of business risks and opportunities.

• 

  A workshop on formulating strategies

  

  The Ajinomoto Group participated in the 6th Science Committee meeting of the Commission for the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean, held in Tonga in August 2010

  

  Labeling and returning skipjack to the ocean for research purposes

Among the ecosystem services relevant to the Ajinomoto Group, living resources used as raw materials in its main products are particularly important. Consequently, for the group to continue stable operations and develop business, it is necessary to effectively incorporate plans to secure ecosystem services in business strategies. The process involves determining ecosystem services that require strategic initiatives, relevant businesses and other activities that are being implemented, and projections to where they are leading. Toward this end, the Ajinomoto Group began carrying out management of business risks and opportunities related to strategic raw materials vital to its operations from fiscal 2010, on the basis of the Corporate Ecosystem Services Review¹ management methodology.

Fiscal 2010 began with an exhaustive examination of issues related to living resources and ecosystem services spanning all of the group's main business domains. From this examination, living resources and business fields to be given priority in management were determined. At present, the group is proceeding with a number of specific initiatives for each of these vital and strategic raw materials from the standpoint of ensuring stable supplies.

A business plan was formulated by employing the Corporate Ecosystem Services Review methodology to examine and analyze the relationship between the group's business activities and biodiversity, and set priority measures accordingly. These tasks were not only handled by the group's environmental departments, but also included collaborative efforts with relevant internal departments managing operations, research and development, procurement, and other areas, along with external experts such as specialists, researchers, and members of NPOs.

The business plan was completed after considerable time was devoted to onsite meetings and strategy planning workshops to ensure that the participants shared all relevant facts and reached consensus. The plan lays out specific business activities, their sustainability and relation to ecosystem services.

In accordance to the plan, departments mainly involved in operations, R&D, and procurement are currently implementing concrete policies, including necessary measures for protecting biodiversity, which form the basis of sustainable businesses of the Ajinomoto Group.

The Ajinomoto Group is focusing on research activities in areas related to the supply of marine and forestry resources, in recognition of the vital importance that procurement of these resources has on both the ecosystem and its business. For marine resources, the group contributes to resource management of skipjack, a raw material used in its main products, and works to conserve the ecosystem in areas where it cultivates and processes shrimp. For forest ecosystems, the group is studying the creation of a framework for procuring paper and palm oil that preserves the ecosystem. With regard to land usage, the Ajinomoto Group has commenced research activities aimed at ensuring that its business sites develop in tandem with local communities and the ecosystem.

1. The Corporate Ecosystem Services Review is advocated by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, the World Resources Institute, and other organizations.

• 

  Experiments in rivers observed ayu gathering around the concrete

  

  A wave-dissipating block containing amino acids

Amino acids are an essential component of life, and their functions are applied over a wide range of products such as food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and animal feed. With its extensive expertise on amino acids, Ajinomoto Co., Inc. saw a potential application toward revitalizing aquatic environments where biodiversity is threatened.

As a starting point to test the hypothesis, research commenced in which amino acids were mixed in concrete to produce "environmentally active concrete" that could stimulate algae growth underwater. From 2009, Ajinomoto Co., Inc. has been developing the concrete in collaboration with Nikken Kogaku Co., Ltd., a company renowned for wave-dissipating blocks, and the University of Tokushima's Institute of Technology and Science, which is headed by Professor Yasunori Kozuki.

Environmentally active concrete is made by mixing concrete with amino acids, which are slowly released when placed underwater. Experiments conducted thus far have demonstrated that arginine is the most compatible kind of amino acid for mixing with concrete, and that microalgae grows on or around this concrete at a rate of 5–10 times that of ordinary concrete. The research also found that the concrete attracted ayu (a Japanese river trout), abalone and sea cucumbers in seawater. Experiments are being carried out at approximately 20 ocean and river locations in cooperation with local communities and fisheries cooperatives.

Looking to broaden the applications of the environmentally active concrete, the company is consigning outside experts to test its durability as a construction material and determine how and at what speed the amino acids are released. Recognizing that environmentally active concrete may be compatible for disaster prevention functions and the revival of aquatic ecosystems, the Ajinomoto Group aims to establish applications of this innovative product worldwide.