Since the start of the project in 1998, approximately 30,000 region-specific saplings have been planted so far. In total, more than 12,000 volunteers have participated in tree planting and cultivation activities.

To date, reforestation efforts of national forest damaged by typhoons were completed as the first phase by removing the hexatubes. In fiscal 2019, a tree survey began as a monitoring survey necessary to comprehensive forest management activities. In 2024, as the sixth year of this tree survey, approximately 70 volunteers took part in creating a database from records of 447 trees planted on an area of approximately 1,800 m².

The Manabi no Mori project will shift to a more friendly forest suitable for learning by visualizing the growth of the trees that have been planted by the volunteers so far. Cultivating a forest is long-term commitment. Therefore, the Mt. Fuji Manabi no Mori project is designed as a 100-year initiative. To ensure that the project will still be running 100 years from now, comprehensive forest management and environmental activities will be continued as a way to communicate the importance of nature to as many people as possible.

Sumitomo Forestry has been implementing an Environmental Education Program for local elementary and junior high school students since fiscal 2006 in collaboration with the NPO Whole Earth Institute (currently Whole Earth Nature School). Activities include nature observation, looking for tracks and traces of wild animals, and games incorporating the five senses. The aim of these activities to rediscover the natural world is for the students to learn about the importance of nature and encourage them to consider new ways in which people can coexist with nature in the future. In fiscal 2024, a total of 1,167 students and children from 17 schools were invited to the program. A cumulative total of more than 15,000 students and children have been invited as of fiscal 2024.

Sumitomo Forestry entered into a partnership agreement on restoration property development coordination and cooperation with Higashi Matsushima City, Miyagi Prefecture in 2012 after the Great East Japan Earthquake to make every effort toward restoration. Higashi Matsushima City aims to revitalize tourism by bringing back the wetlands in the Suzaki district near the Nobiru coast devastated by the tsunami. As part of this effort, Sumitomo Forestry began trial tree planting activities in fiscal 2017. A soil investigation discovered a high concentration of acidity, which needed considerations about the tree species and techniques for planting. We then formulated a tree-planting plan taking into account third-party insight from the Tohoku Research Center of the Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute. We checked and made sure the seedlings had been growing with support by the local community, thus we have started the Oku Matsushima Nature Recover Volunteer Planting Activity along the Nobiru coast of Higashi Matsushima City since fiscal 2019.

In 2024, a total of 200 people participated in the tree planting. Local residents, children from Higashi-Matsushima Municipal Miyanomori Elementary School, Sumitomo Forestry's subcontractors, and Sumitomo Forestry Group employees worked together to plant 850 plants from five local indigenous species. In addition to the tree planting, this volunteer activity included clearing the underbush so that the seedlings in the planted area would grow to a large size. We also provided environmental education to third-year students of Miyanomori Elementary School, and are working to grow Raphiolepis umbellata, a local indigenous plant, until it becomes a seedling plant from seedings. We are working together with the local community on medium- to long-term activities.

In October 2021, Sumitomo Forestry launched "morino de van," a comprehensive forestry education Giving on-site classes Project in collaboration with the Gifu Academy of Forest Science and Culture (morinos*). This project is an initiative to deliver diverse and comprehensive forest experiences using a Wald-car.

In May 2024, we participated in "Plaza to Make the Earth Smile" hosted by TOKYO BROADCASTING SYSTEM TELEVISION, INC. Under the theme "Let's Create the Town of the Future!" this initiative aimed to provide learning and hands-on experience about SDGs actions that can be taken for the future. Sumitomo Forestry provided the program mainly for children who have limited opportunities to interact with nature in their daily lives. It included "Barefoot Trail," where participants walked barefoot on wood and sand, "Touch and Feel Museum," where they could touch stuffed animals, and "Knock Knock Knock," where children could choose what they wanted to make from "Takara no Yama," a pile of wood chips (scrap wood), by creating things using tools such as hammers, saws, and nails. We hope that such experience will be an opportunity to think about SDGs to protect nature for a long time.

The program will aim to realize a society in which all people and forests are connected and "coexist" through the nature experience programs offered by the delivery of classes.

*Nickname of the Forestry Education Center within the Gifu Academy of Forest Science and Culture. Its purpose is to connect all people with forests and pass on the joy of living with forests and the richness of forest culture to the next generation

Our company is participating in the 100th Anniversary Supporter Program of Kyoto Prefectural Botanical Gardens. In October 2024, we attended the commemorative tree-planting ceremony at the 100th anniversary of the opening of Kyoto Prefectural Botanical Gardens. Seedlings were planted of "Akebono Ume" from Hōkyō-ji Temple, which were propagated through grafting by the Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, as were seedlings of "Beniwakonbai" from Kitano Tenmangū Shrine, "Taikō Shidarezakura" from Daigo-ji Temple, and "Omurozakura" from Ninna-ji Temple. All of them were propagated by our company from tissue culture. In the future, we will collaborate with Kyoto Prefecture and Kyoto Prefectural Botanical Gardens to propagate famous cherry and plum trees from within Kyoto Prefecture from tissue culture, and we will plant them in the newly established tree garden in Kyoto Prefectural Botanical Gardens. Even if the original famous trees were to die due to natural disasters, pests, or diseases, the seedlings planted in the tree garden will remain, thereby mitigating the risk of extinction. For the next 100 years, we will contribute to realizing the vision of Kyoto Botanical Gardens of "contributing to the conservation of the world's biodiversity from Kyoto" through the total coordination of trees, including the propagation of seedlings from the tissue culture of famous trees.

Each junior high school in Niihama City conducts the Besshi Copper Mine Mountain Climbing (Hometown Study) to learn about the history and historical sites of the Besshi Copper Mine, which laid the foundation for Niihama's development, in order to understand local characteristics and enhance love for the local area.

At the request of the Board of Education, Sumitomo Forestry is helping junior high school students take a guided tour of the facilities at Forester House so that they can learn about the history of afforestation and get a sense of the green revitalized Besshi Copper Mine before climbing the mountain.

BAUM, a brand of Shiseido Co., Ltd. with the theme of "coexistence with trees," is engaged in efforts to recycle forest resources based on its brand philosophy of "not only receiving the blessings of trees but also returning them to nature."

Sumitomo Forestry has been supporting the brand's activities since June 2020 when BAUM was launched, by producing and maintaining saplings grown in the stores and further cultivating the saplings grown in the stores for tree planting.

At the "BAUM Oak Forest" in Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture, seedlings of oak (Mizunara) are planted to be used for the wooden parts of cosmetic packaging to promote the recycling of forest resources. Seedlings of oak (Mizunara) grown at BAUM stores are further cultivated at our Motoyama Tree Nursery Center until they reach a size suitable for planting. In the 2024 tree-planting activities, 600 seedlings were planted. As part of our environmental contribution activities, employees from the Housing Division supported the brand's initiatives by participating in tree planting.

We also support the activities at BAUM Hinoki Forest, which was established within a public forest in Niihama City, Ehime Prefecture. Based on the tripartite agreement signed in January 2024 between Shiseido, Niihama City in Ehime Prefecture and our company, the first tree-planting event in BAUM Hinoki Forest was held in May 2024.

At BAUM Hinoki Forest, Sumitomo Forestry supports the brand's efforts to recycle forest resources by producing, maintaining, and nurturing hinoki seedlings grown in stores and also supplying chips from Shikoku-grown Japanese cypress, which are used as raw materials for skincare products.

Niihama City is a place associated with the Sumitomo Forestry Group and where the management of forests surrounding the copper mines in Besshi Copper Mine was a starting point. The tree-planting activities are planned to be carried out over ten years starting from 2024, with approximately 600 hinoki seedlings grown in stores each year and then further cultivated at the Motoyama Tree Nursery Center.

The Kanagawa SDGs Partner program is a registration program to encourage cooperation in efforts between the prefecture and corporations and other entities working to achieve the SDGs in the prefecture. Sumitomo Forestry has been registered as a Kanagawa SDGs Partner on April 13, 2020. Broader standardization of ZEH to reduce greenhouse gas emissions aims to help combat climate change, energize the economy and bring greater environmental awareness.