Nature is critical to our survival: nature provides us with oxygen, regulates our weather patterns, pollinates our crops, and produces our food, feed, and fiber. At ELGi, we believe we are responsible for making the world a better place. We have taken a long-term view of the challenges and opportunities that the climate crisis presents for ELGi and formulated a sustainability roadmap to help us navigate a complex business landscape in the foreseeable future.
ELGi is committed to developing green facilities comprising of green belts and landscaped gardens at all factory locations, using the Miyawaki technique. Aside from planting over more than 100 varieties of native species to promote biodiversity.
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are the blueprint for achieving a better and more sustainable future. Comprising 17 goals and 169 targets, these are a call for action for global economies, governments, businesses, other organizations, and individuals to work towards mitigating the world’s most pressing challenges.
Today, we are looking at Goal 15 - Life on land.
So, what does the goal mean?
The United Nation's Sustainable Development Goal 15 urges us to protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.
How has ELGi aligned with the goal in the past year?
ELGi is committed to developing green facilities:
- We developed green belts and landscaped gardens at all factory locations, using the Miyawaki technique.
- Planted multiple varieties of native species to promote biodiversity.
What is the Miyawaki Technique?
The Miyawaki technique was developed by Japanese Botanist Akira Miyawaki to grow dense forests of native plants. This innovative technique, which involves planting a forest, is utilized to reforest cities globally. This technique produces forests that grow quickly, contain dense vegetation, and over time require little to no management. When growing wood on tiny landholdings, the Miyawaki approach and related strategies are incredibly effective.
Prerequisites for Afforestation through the Miyawaki Method:
- The Miyawaki afforestation technique only needs a very small area—at least 20 square feet.
- To save space and encourage dense plant growth, seeds must be planted relatively close together. This will also enable young trees to defend one another and stop sunlight from infiltrating the forest floor, inhibiting the growth of parasitic plants.
- This approach must result in vegetation that is 30 times denser and growing 10 times more quickly than usual.
- The Miyawaki approach requires that such a forest be maintained for a minimum of three years.
What is afforestation?
Afforestation involves planting trees in areas that haven't recently had any tree cover, in order to create a forest. The type of land planted could include areas that have turned into a desert (through desertification), places that have long been used for grazing, disused agricultural fields, or industrial areas.
The main goals of afforestation are to serve as a method to reduce atmospheric CO2, increase soil quality, and either avoid or reverse desertification. The forests created through afforestation also provide habitat to local wildlife, create windbreaks, support soil health, and may also help improve water quality. Afforestation is one of the most "natural" and technologically simple ways to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
ELGi recognizes the contribution of biodiversity to the reduction of emissions. Carbon emissions can be absorbed by the ground thanks to forests. Since 2016, ELGi has created green belts at all factory locations, using the Miyawaki technique. The ELGi team and their family members have contributed to this program by planting more than 6,000 different tree species so far, with the goal of planting more than 30,000 trees over the next three years.