Kiyosu, Japan, September 19, 2017: Toyoda Gosei Co., Ltd. conducted its first tree-planting event in Europe on the grounds of its Czech production subsidiary, Toyoda Gosei Czech s.r.o. About 750 volunteers took part, including employees, their families, community residents and local government officials, planting about 5,300 seedlings.

This brings the total number of trees and shrubs planted by the Toyoda Gosei Group to around 300,000 at 26 locations worldwide (12 in Japan and 14 overseas).

The company’s activities have been conducted every year since 2009, with the aims of increasing greenery at factories, raising environmental awareness, and contributing to the community. The program follows the tree-planting method proposed by Dr. Akita Miyawaki,* an international leader in tree planting. In Dr. Miyawaki’s method, a large number of species suited to each location are planted at high density. The planted trees do not need artificial management, and grow into “true woodlands” that are resistant to earthquakes, tsunami, fires, pests and other natural disasters.

In the event at Toyoda Gosei Czech, s.r.o, 19 species of trees (sycamore, large-leaved lime, sessile oak, others) suited to the natural environment of northwestern Czechia were planted around the factory.

*Dr. Miyawaki is Professor Emeritus, Yokohama National University and Lifetime Honorary Director of the Japanese Center for International Studies in Ecology. He has provided tree-planting instruction to governments and companies around the world, and has been involved in the planting of more than 40 million trees. In 2006 he received the “Blue Planet Prize,” an international award for the earth’s environment that has been called the Nobel Prize of the environmental field.

Czech Minister of the Environment Richard Brabec (left) and Toyoda Gosei Chairman Tadashi Arashima (right) plant trees	Tree-planting scene