A gift item designed to allow people to make social contributions in the form of tree-planting was released on the Web on July 10, 2007 by Rainbow Japan Inc., a Tokyo-based digital media production company. Called "ecologift," a portion of its sales goes to social action groups involved in afforestation/reforestation activities. The gift recipient, in return, receives a certificate of tree-planting. This unique gift was made possible with the cooperation of the National Federations of UNESCO Associations in Japan (NFUAJ), an organization promoting world heritage movements. The price for planting a tree is 10,500 yen.

The company is marketing ecologift as a promotional give-away at celebrations and events, or as memorabilia in commemoration of child birth, marriage or entering school, or as a birthday gift.

According to Rainbow Japan, the unique system can supply sizeable sums of money for social action groups such as NPOs, and allows NPOs and NGOs in partnership with the company to carry out their activities in a planned and consistent manner. The support goes to NPO/NGO groups engaged in global environmental protection, in the hope of contributing to Japan's CO2-reduction goal under the Kyoto Protocol.

The company will also seek ties with NPO/NGO groups undertaking reforestation of mountains owned by national or local governments. These groups take advantage of the Shared Forest System, in which businesses, organizations and local citizens can indirectly participate in nationally and municipally run projects for forest improvement. With such a range of possible contributions, ecologift will be able to systematically and continuously meet the needs of customers.



Posted: 2007/11/25 03:26:48 PM
Japanese version

TAG Eco-product/Business , NGO/Citizen , Non-manufacturing industry