Biodiversity Preservation at Business Sites

In 2017, Casio commissioned an expert outside agency (Ryokusei Research Institute Inc.) to conduct a biodiversity survey at the Group’s main sites in Japan. As shown in Table 1, the results found that many species of insects and plants make their home at these sites. Rare species including Golden Orchid (Cephalantherafalcata), which is included on the Ministry of the Environment’s species Red List, and Silver Orchid (Cephalanthera erecta) and stalked adder’s-tongue(Ophioglossum petiolatum), both of which are on Tokyo’s Red List of threatened species, were found at the Hamura R&D Center in Hamura, Tokyo.
Members of the Hamura TC Protection Team, made up of employee volunteers, carry out observation and preservation activities for the year-round protection of the wildlife on the center’s premises. As a result of these observations, in spring 2023, new specimens of the Golden Orchid and Silver Orchid were confirmed, which had not been seen during the survey by outside experts. As part of the preservation activities, the team is working on measures to avoid the disappearance of rare plants, such as protecting them from pests and trying to increase their numbers on the premises through artificial pollination and seeding.
In addition, for three consecutive years in 2022, 2023 and 2024, Japanese sparrowhawks nested on the premises, and the center’s employees quietly watched over them until their chicks successfully left the nest. Rare species including the plant Lespedeza tomentosa Sieb. Ex Maxim. And the insect Canthophorus niveimarginatus (Scott), which are included on Yamanashi Prefecture’s Red List of threatened species, were found at the Yamanashi Office of Yamagata Casio Co., Ltd. in the city of Fuefuki. In light of these results, the YC Yamanashi Protection Team of volunteers are continuing to undertake conservation activities with advice from the expert agency.
Specifically, the team is working on management of green space (grass cutting) that is suited to rare species and to propagate individuals, as well as to remove non-native species that have a negative impact on preserving the environment for rare species.