TOKYO(February 6, 2002)--The Green Triangle Plantation Forest Company of Australia Pty. Ltd. (head office: Portland, Victoria, Australia; President: Kenji Kanda), an affiliated company of Nissho Iwai, in collaboration with Oji Paper Co., Ltd., the National Institute for Environmental Studies and Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc., will commence joint research on the development of carbon absorption monitoring methods using forests in Australia. Herein, Nissho Iwai is pleased to release the following information:

Four companies, including Oji Paper, have announced that they have begun conducting joint research on the development of carbon absorption monitoring methods in forests in Australia. The four are: Oji Paper Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President: Shoichiro Suzuki), the National Institute for Environmental Studies (Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture; President: Yoichi Goshi), the Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc. (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Director and President: Takeshi Yano), and the Green Triangle Plantation Forest Company of Australia Pty. Ltd. (GPFL; Headquarters: Portland, Victoria, Australia; Director and President: Kenji Kanda; invested companies: Oji Paper, Nissho Iwai Corporation, Toppan Printing Co., Ltd., and the Hokkaido Electric Power Co., Inc., see attachment). 

The Kyoto Protocol adopted at the Third Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (Kyoto Conference) in 1997 agrees on the principle of reducing greenhouse gases including CO2 and requires signatories to quantitatively measure and calculate CO2 absorption by forests during the reduction commitment period from 2008 to 2012. The protocol recognizes activities to expand human-induced absorption sources through tree-planting efforts and the implementation of these activities overseas. 

At the Seventh Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (Marrakech Conference), a specific definition of absorption source activities, as well as their limitations, was identified, but there remain numerous unanswered questions regarding absorption calculation formulas, measurement methods, and other monitoring methods, despite active research and development in various countries and institutions. Accepted methods need to be established quickly. 

In this joint research effort, Oji Paper and GPFL will utilize planting technologies they have developed to offer various kinds of data on the forested areas being used for research and measurements, while the National Institute for Environmental Studies and the Mitsubishi Research Institute will collect and analyze forest land measurement data obtained from satellites. The purpose of this project is to utilize the unique know-how possessed by each organization to investigate and develop methods for monitoring absorption source activity for the region of Victoria, Australia. 

for more details, see OjiPaper Co.,ltd. Website,
http://www.ojipaper.co.jp/news/english/cgi-bin/news_view.pl5?article=20020206_001