Midori Ippai Project Activities
Midori Ippai (Shiga Office)
- Promotion of Midori Ippai Project
NTT West sees harmony with the natural environment as an important responsibility of mankind. For this reason, we have been promoting the "Midori Ippai Project" as a measure to protect the rich global environment through environmental and biodiversity conservation activities by every employee.
窶 Conservation of Biodiversity through Environmental Conservation Activities at Lake Biwa 窶?/h3>
As a company with branches and offices around Lake Biwa of Shiga Prefecture as well as a resident of the city, NTT West Shiga Group takes part in a wide variety of environmental conservation activities to protect the environment and hand it down to future generations, while at the same time to express gratitude to the benefits offered by the lake.
A vital water source for 14.5 million people in the Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe area, Lake Biwa is often regarded as a mirror that reflects the balance between "mankind" and "nature." The phenomenon of "disruption to the deep breathing of Lake Biwa," a result of deterioration in the water quality, increase in foreign fish species, unusual increase in the quantity of waterweeds and general circulation of the lake water, is representative of the global environmental issues and is also referred to as "a miniature version of the earth's environment." Lake Biwa is one of the few ancient lakes in the world with a history of four million years, a wintering spot for more than 60,000 migratory birds, and a habitat to 61 native species (among which 62% are endangered species). These are the reasons why we believe activities to protect the lake and hand it down to future generations will contribute directly to the conservation of biodiversity.
Our initiatives to protect Lake Biwa can be divided largely into four types of activities as described below:
- (1) Conservation of reed community (reed cutting)
- (2) Cleaning activities at the lakeside of Lake Biwa
- (3) Planting activities to restore the landscape and water quality
- (4) Alien species control fishing contest
NTT West Shiga Office started taking part in the activities in (1) since FY1990, those in (2) since FY2008, and those in (3) since FY2010.
In FY2018, NTT West Shiga Office took part in the alien species control fishing contest on October 20, 2018, Shiga Prefecture mass cleaning activity on November 30, 2018, and FY2018 Otsu City resident reed cutting activity on January 27, 2019. About 30 members participated in the alien species control fishing contest, who spent about two hours to catch a total of 123 fish, including seven black bass and 116 bluegill. Meanwhile, about 20 members took part in the city resident reed cutting activity, who performed cutting work under rigorous weather conditions with fallen snow and a temperature close to the freezing point. Nonetheless, everyone united their efforts to perform the series of tasks to cut the reeds with a sickle and tie them into bundles using a rope.
Including the current round of activities, we have been promoting biodiversity conversation with a total of 421 members taking part in alien fish species control over the past nine years and 1,384 members participating in reed cutting over the last 29 years.
As a company as well as a resident of the city who enjoys the benefits of the diverse values offered by Lake Biwa, NTT West Shiga Group will continue to take part actively in the biodiversity conservation efforts with a sense of gratitude.
Voices of Participants
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NIHON MECCS Co., Ltd. I was assigned to NTT West Shiga Branch Building Meccs Center since November 2014, and came to learn of the alien species control fishing contest and reed cutting activity that NTT West Group is involved in while I was taking over the tasks. I decided to take part in the activities as I thought it would be a good chance to communicate with everyone. It seems like both my wife and my two children also enjoy and are always excited about taking part in the fishing contest and reed cutting activity. After we started to join in these activities, we began to talk about the need to take good care of the nature and Lake Biwa. When my children learned about the ecosystem of Lake Biwa in school, they seem to recall their participation in the alien species control fishing contest. While it is good to feel enthusiastic, what I told my family is that "we should just continue doing what ought to be done as a matter of course." Needless to say, these activities are gradually becoming a part of our family's routine events. Not only so, I believe that participation in the activities allows everyone in our family to naturally come into touch with and learn about environmental protection and biodiversity conservation. I would be more than happy if my children can realize that we adults are making an effort to preserve and improve the scenery that our children see now as well as the fact that there is no goal to environmental protection and biodiversity conservation, and also if they can continue with the efforts we have made and pass them down to the future generations. |
