CSR Communication

Outside scholars who participated in the panel discussion

Biodiversity-Why Now?

Moderator (Kawaguchi)As was revealed during the self introductions a little earlier, we discovered that the “biodiversity” of everyone here today (laughs) and the areas of our expertise are quite wide ranging, and so I believe we understand that our visions on the theme of today’s discussion are, if you will, quite diverse as well. I am pondering how best to proceed with the discussions from here, but several of our participants today have mentioned during their self-introduction that they honestly do not understand what biodiversity is. I myself, having studied various materials as a novice, still don’t understand why it’s called biodiversity.
Without fully understanding the reason for this, or rather starting from COP10 as it’s important to our discussion, I see, this will likely become a discussion on how and not why, like; we have to do it, and so how? Actually, there are a lot of discussions on how, and I think everyone here is an expert in that department, so starting from scratch, when convincing a client from the beginning, I feel the discussion must be held on why, after all. So now, I would like to hear the thoughts from each of our participants today on why it’s called biodiversity, so that we can create a shared vision. First, I would like to ask Dr. Kohsaka for his thoughts from an expert’s point of view.

Dr. KohsakaWhy is biodiversity conservation necessary? Speaking from an international treaty point of view, actually there is always a clause included that biodiversity and conservation must contribute to the development of emerging nations. The focal point of talks will inevitably be that we are all living things, but how do people in these regions live their lives? This is related to how we consider the idea that urbanization corresponds to urban planning in Japan, which is a very large problem, you know.
So when thinking of how to go about the issue of urban planning and cities, the circumstances are that roughly half of the world’s population has come to live in cities since the year 2007, and what’s more currently most megacities are concentrated in Asia. At the same time, initiatives in these megacities to address urban issues and ecosystems will become considerably more important going forward. Especially, this importance will grow in Asia. Even in Japan a variety of initiatives are underway, but along with urban designs that reduce a city’s carbon footprint and address the heat island phenomenon, I believe incorporating elements of biodiversity will also be closely related to future urban planning and the construction industry hereafter.

ModeratorThank you. I think this will get everyone thinking, about a variety of topics, such as why do we need to tackle the issue of biodiversity conservation, why did humankind have to sign this type of treaty, and do we really need biodiversity in the first place? Incidentally, when thinking about ecosystem networks of biodiversity, do you think humans are part of this network or are they excluded? This is something rather important to consider, right. I suspect people working in the habitats of living organisms may have a different perspective on this Ms. Fujita, how do you feel about this?

FujitaLet’s examine this from the viewpoint of world history. Humankind has only been a leading player starting at most from around 6 million years ago, so The Earth’s history without humankind is by far much longer. So by no means is there a need to view humankind as the focal point when considering the importance of biodiversity. However, I feel the signing of international treaties on biodiversity, which can encompass say, the food needs and the resource needs of 6.8 billion people, is one of the reasons why human kind tends to become a focal point when looking at ecosystem services.
When talking about ecosystem services, provisioning services that provide water and food, and regulating services that regulate the climate and store water, are talked about the most. Just because some greenery was planted around a building constructed by Taisei Corporation in the city, it doesn’t mean this greenery will ever serve as a food source. In other words, without provisioning services, this greenery is simply a mere regulating service that helps reduce the temperature slightly. Conversely, as Dr. Kohsaka mentioned earlier, the raw materials for this building are imported from developing countries, so I think we find ourselves in a situation where we need to adopt urban planning that also considers the impact ecosystem destruction has on the local populations.

Dr. KohsakaWhen explaining why biodiversity is important for humankind, there is a service on the provisioning side where humankind benefits from nature’s bounty, as was mentioned about ecosystem services; there is a service that plays a regulating role, such as temperature and disaster prevention; and finally there are also cultural services like hiking and the soothing quality of nature, you know. Among these, I think the general public most easily understands the cultural and recreation part, which includes hiking and haiku. Furthermore, from the point of view of professionals involved in urban planning and townscape design, there are certain aspects useful for fire prevention and regulating temperature. However, because a variety of different elements such as cultures and religions come into play when it comes to defining the value of biodiversity, I can’t help but feel we can only do this up to a certain point even if we partially indicated the value of biodiversity in a monetary sum.

ModeratorSo would anyone with us today who works close to living organisms in the field like to share their reasons, if any, for the importance of biodiversity?

AoshimaI really don’t know what the significance of biodiversity is, but I think we can unequivocally say that having too high a human population is not a good thing. I am sure that having fewer humans will make biodiversity richer, for example when thinking of Tokyo, if there were no human activity, then there would be a forest of trees, including shiia, cyclobalanopsis and tabu. But, in reality, the forest was cut down, and over the years more and more people have come to live here, so even forests with mixed varieties of trees are now gone. The only remaining greenery is pretty much isolated patches here and there. Having lived my life as a human, I guess I don’t really know the answer to the question of whether we should be doing this or not.

FujiwaraThere are places from Dr. Kohsaka’s earlier response to which, I too, can empathize. Behind all of these treaties, there is always the problem of the North-South issue. I think the individual interfaces people from a variety of backgrounds and with a variety of interests have toward biodiversity are quite different. There are instances where the same can be said for urban townscapes, and that means these interfaces will be different for mountain regions or for coastal areas where energy resources are developed. Whether it’s ecosystem services or whether it’s recycling; habitats for living things, consequently the place where you call home, or places that absorb oxygen and use water, I feel that these places are the easiest to conceptualize and understand.

KaburagiThinking from the level of urban planning, there was an earlier comment that environmental initiatives correlate to cultural services. For example, the place where I lived in the United States for two years created a clearly defined conservation area for the town. They set up a nature center with local staff, so the local community felt a deal of great pride that on their own land, in their own nature, all sorts of living things were coming to live in this area. When considering the significance of this, it means there is a foundation for a society with a local cultural perspective and that values the diversity of living things. These ideals appear in overall urban planning, which I feel expresses the maturity level of the local community.
This is not what you might call cultural services, for example, whether establishing cool islands or enriching the ecosystem, development is not possible without using networks. Creating a framework to resolve urban issues using networks is indicative of a high degree of societal maturation. Therefore, speaking firsthand, I also feel some kind of rich cultural aspect to the diversity of living things. When talking about how this expands out from the city to a global scale, I believe a variety of values will inevitably come into play.

Dr. KohsakaRegarding the maturity levels and the democratic nature of society and local communities, I would like to share an example of a project in Finland. Ecologists determined what living organisms are scarce or what areas are valuable using GIS to photograph an area from a satellite, and then matched the results with a vote taken from local residents on whether they liked the area or felt it had value. The result was a pretty big discrepancy between the two.
Local residents tend to prefer, ecologically speaking, forests with little value and with ordinary species, as well as small isolated enclaves of conservation. So the problem lies with what to do with the areas of importance, when matching these needs up with an ecological database. However, in actuality, most dialogue doesn’t go well between academics in natural science and academics who generally take a more society-based approach, so I feel a lot of times, zoning is determined based on where an expert decides is important in the end.

SaitoAfter all, living things are in essence life itself, so for example thinking from a global perspective, food problems and all other issues will come into play when talking about ecosystem issues. But, I felt that it’s really important what view you take, whether it’s globally, nationally, locally, or in areas undergoing development. When handling microorganisms, if there are a lot of types of microbiota present, then that means the environment is very rich and sound. Substances are being recycled and reused really well. For example, polluted or dirtied water being thoroughly cleaned and returned to the environment. Air is the same, right? So increasing this scale to say, include the heat island phenomenon would mean the core of environmental consideration, is I believe in this instance cooling the resulting heat somehow. In our jobs as well, the ability to declare environmental awareness in our business plans links us with biodiversity.
Today’s theme is biodiversity, but without using this specific term, we have already taken steps to safeguard the environment throughout our company’s history, so I think Taisei Corporation has not been wrong in its activities thus far.

ModeratorThank you. Mr. Takahashi, do you have anything to add?

Takahashi,IchirouTaisei Corporation’s environmental planning started about 20 years ago, not under the term biodiversity, but as Mr. Kaburagi pointed out, in urban planning, as we used greenery and bird life as an indicator in urban development plans. This is because we thought it would be easy to move forward with our environmental initiatives under the easy-to-understand concepts found in a biological pyramid. The presence of bird life indicates that the ecosystem to support these animals is firmly in place. So, I felt that we have been engaging in biodiversity initiatives for some time now without fully knowing it.

TakayamaI am mainly involved with creating tidal wetlands, so in these areas I think biodiversity is basically having a variety of species with many places to live. Successfully creating habitats for organisms on the lowest step of the biological pyramid will make it possible for living things to live independently on their own. Also, as for why diversity is important, marine fisheries receive the easiest-to-understand ecosystem service benefits. So I think because diversity is considered important due to the services we receive, and because we want to continue to receive these services, saying the conventional way in which we have used these services is wrong is deeply concerned with diversity.

Dr. KohsakaAs was pointed out a little earlier, a fundamental problem with diversity is the issue of scale and time. When creating biodiversity indicators, many different patterns can arise depending on time and scale. Moreover, there is a lot up for debate, such as whether compiling everything micro will create something macro, among others. In particular, the current focus of discussion on biodiversity seems to be that conditions change when some kind of pressure is applied, and people need to respond, but what do we do and what is effective? This is the point about which everyone is concerned at the moment.
There are a lot of advantages to DPSIR (Driving forces Pressures States Impacts Responses; note: a causal framework for describing interactions between society and the environment adopted by the European Environment Agency), which very clearly identifies causal relationships. That is, changing the use of one plot of land will change the species that live there. For example, DPSIR is an extremely useful tool for uniting science with public policy to address the occurrence of, say, decreased butterfly populations or lower numbers of microorganisms, among other things. But in reality, there is distortion in many instances, like how the reduction of a species does not go hand in hand with the reduction of services. It’s hard, though, because saying the more species the better is understandable given large and vague patterns, yet focusing on a single species, even if it increases or decreases, the effects of this will not necessarily be directly reflected as a benefit to people.

ModeratorWe have received views on biodiversity from a variety of different perspectives. In summarizing the discussion, biodiversity as used at the COP10 is actually not scientific or related to natural science, but is rather social science based. Dr. Kohsaka’s first remarks were on development and growth. Mr. / Ms. Fujita’s comments also talked about the world’s population of 6.8 billion. In other words, there is a growing awareness in society today that we need to make biodiversity a political issue. On the flip side, from those of you involved in the field with microorganisms and other living things, we have heard that it’s intuitive to say the environment is bountiful, and that you are experiencing linkages with biodiversity in a variety of ways. Mr. / Ms. Takayama also mentioned that the fishing industry cannot be successful without a sea rich in biodiversity, so rather than consider why biodiversity is important, perhaps it’s best to consider that the problem of biodiversity has been pushed to the forefront because of human society’s needs.
DPSIR, as mentioned by Dr. Kohsaka, carries the actual purpose to unite scientific evaluations with public policy. Discussions must be grounded scientifically, but they also need to be incorporated into public policy. If we summarize in this way, when thinking of what we must do going forward, we can actually organize the issues we face, as evidenced by the case of water ecology, in needing to ensure adequate fishing areas, or urban ecosystems, where the issue becomes real estate prices and amenities for local residents.

The scene of the "1-6 Otemachi Project" presentation at the Financial Center

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Creating Better Ecosystems

ModeratorThe biodiversity discussed at COP10, in the end, is social-based if you will, and is basically considered an issue facing human society, but what should Taisei Corporation do to address biodiversity issues going forward? How should you create better ecosystems using corporate strategy and technology? With that said, though, if you cannot convince clients, then it is just a pie in the sky. So, I am hoping we can talk about how you should convince clients, whether you as a company should be doing this or whether you think government should play a role in doing this.

WatanabeSo far, our company has developed quite a number of technologies that can be applied to various environments including the aqua environment to greening, spanning a wide range from their planning to execution. Today, we have heard about how biodiversity is regarded as a social science, something that humans need. What kind of changes will we see in our society at this point, and what will be sought after in a construction company? These things will surely have to cover how to design our towns and cities as well as revitalize our environment, but what kind of world will it turn out to be is in my opinion something about which we have no idea. I would truly like to say that we are making preparations as this kind of society will come however when asked whether the technology or initiatives we have are sufficient, I have my reservations.

ModeratorWe have a few participants from the Technological R&D Center with us today, would you like to share with us your views on this? At this very moment, is there such a thing as the perfect technology? Somehow I feel that technology is something that should evolve at the same pace as the world develops.

SaitoUp until now, besides tackling environmental issues, there are lots of regulations on the development of related technologies, and it has been included in the scope of our job functions to provide such technology that completely clears these standards.
Although, I am not sure if our involvement in this sense directly relates to the broader concept of biodiversity. Our company really specializes in assembling experts from various fields with the technical expertise involved in solving issues or requests from our customers.

FujiwaraIn Japan an evaluation method called the Comprehensive Assessment System for Built Environment Efficiency (CASBEE) exists, which takes into consideration biodiversity along with comfort level and other criteria. However, within the context of civil engineering there isn’t anything similar to CASBEE. Therefore, it is not necessary to say that the industry lacks expertise or technology, but it could be that the current standard is chaotic and unregulated.
Industries that impact the environment across a wide area must conduct an environmental assessment. Following that, the business owner can then evaluate their business viability while taking into account the issue of biodiversity, in order to move on to making actual construction plans and designs. Of course our participation in this matter is as a business partner. What really supports our role is to have the proper technology needed to back up our business proposals. What I think really appeals to society is having the ability to properly pass on the technical know-how or give technical support, even during the actual implementation of such proposed technologies in building construction, and having technical people available.

SaitoIn my opinion, the way we perceive our future society has largely shifted based on global environmental issues. In essence, our social infrastructure has been built upon the concept of “man versus nature”. For example, if 120 mm of precipitation falls, then all we think about is how to quickly get rid of that same amount of water. Whatever inconvenience nature brings our way, we want to figure out how to resolve that situation. This, and challenges of natural symbiosis, energy supply, carbon dioxide emission, and biodiversity issues are all the same thing. The direction of social capital development has changed based on how we think of our mutual relationship with nature and understand the wider picture. I think this is what drives the change in our values. Having said that, in each of our projects, we simply stand by the concept that social infrastructure is something we build precisely, not based on the “man versus nature” ideology.

ModeratorSo to rephrase what you just said, working just clear regulations in what we’ve been striving to do so far is, in your opinion, different than thinking about biodiversity, correct?

AoshimaI think to some extent it has to do with all of those things. For instance, I’ve seen cases where building an exterior with sound lumber products can increase the floor-area ratio, or where conserving the forest can do the same for the plot ratio. In those kinds of scenarios, it is a triple win situation for the business developer, construction company, and biosystem.
There was a discussion on civil engineering earlier, and it seems like since design and construction phases are separate that biodiversity conservation has been left up to the design stage. However, I believe if a system can be set up such that biodiversity concerns are taking into consideration during construction and not only during design, then general contractors will be able to create more opportunity for advancement in the field and move forward accordingly.

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Participation-based Biodiversity Business Models

ModeratorThank you. Regulations, in a sense might have become something that helps biodiversity. Also, we have heard opinions on the differences seen in civil engineering and construction.
I believe for the sake of discussion it might be a good idea to differentiate the two fields, because doesn’t civil engineering; generally speaking, have more to do with public projects? As these projects have a public objective, they have the tendency to encounter external diseconomy through obtaining tax revenue. On the other hand, for example, your company’s 1-6 Otemachi Project (tentative name), appears very much like a private building project. However, when there is that kind of forest nearby, should we say that the people in neighboring buildings are all very lucky? A substantial forest has made its appearance without their knowledge of it and it creates a strong external economic effect, but the cost actually falls on the structure such that it is borne by the business or whoever owns that building. In terms of civil engineering, the public project authority is the leader of the project and may create rules to a certain degree and so I think a plan such as creating a biodiversity forest through a private sector initiative will not realize the same external economic effect as the cost warrants. I believe we shouldn’t combine the two areas in this sense. What are your thoughts?

KaburagiNo, I don’t believe so. The floor-area ratio yielded based on efforts allows for an overwhelming expansion of square footage and also makes more economic sense.

FujiwaraIn other words, to address external diseconomy through the system of special urban redevelopment areas and working on it internally. Therefore, it in effect takes on a similar framework as civil engineering projects.

ModeratorSo you are saying that the regulations are leading us in a pretty good direction. Following this scheme, urban planning is moving in the right way, correct?
Another issue I thought about is that traditionally it was good enough to create something that just meets the regulations, but biodiversity isn’t something so clear cut. To what extent should we put in our efforts and what kind of results will be produced - this is something that we won’t know until we try. Is this too open ended? It seems like the sky is the only limit. For the risk management of pollution it seems like we should set the bar higher, but if we start to adopt a different approach to this problem, what kind of added value will be created as a result? What kind of differences will emerge between a place that makes the minimal effort of forestation and one that fosters a wonderful green space?

FujitaThe kind of effect or increase in added value will take place as a result of preserving biodiversity is something of great interest to the mass media. A private company conducted a project that involved the collection of dormant wild-growing plant seeds from the Kanto loam in order to reinvent green spaces in the urban area. They did a survey among those working in the building. What the survey revealed was that a lot of people were happy with the fact that the building was environmentally friendly. When asked which exact aspect of environmental design they were most happy with, the top answer was the green space made available. People interpreted this as meaning a building with a lush green space and with high marks in external evaluations such as CASBEE, is likely to be a property with the potential to ultimately appreciate in value.
Also, in terms of woodland, when your company preserved the woodland at the Sapporo Dome through reforesting, it increased the number of visitors to the area as a result. This is one of the effects of preserving biodiversity. Right now, the devastation of woodland areas has become a problem throughout the country. If we follow the same steps to preserve the woodland, I think it will make a great selling point for either a residential or industrial area. Seeing COP10 as an opportunity, I believe it will be a great driving force for more examples such as this one to take form and shape.

ModeratorThe value of greenery has become more readily recognized even by ordinary people, hasn’t it. On the other hand, although we may somehow feel that green space is important to us, there can be cases where people enjoy the greenery but actually dislike things that come with it such as leaves or insects. While biodiversity really includes a full cycle involving things such as leaves and insects, as a business they might just want to focus on one specific aspect of the cycle - “just this part”. What are your thoughts on this?

OkadaIt is true if you take a look at Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden you will find lots of fallen leaves and mosquitoes in it. However, what’s really great about the place is, there are volunteers and an organization that exists to manage the Garden as a biotope space. Thanks to this, the environment is maintained at a level as a biotope, but somehow with us general contractors, we tend to want to just build, sell, and be done with the project. While with biotopes, greenery, or green space even, once there is something that grows, the environment changes at a rather quick pace. If we have a building project with these things, should we feel we are done with it the moment the project is complete? This is something we always need to be thinking about. While it is still an ideal thought, I feel like in the future it will be necessary for us to devise a system in the planning stage for managing the environment after it’s done.

ModeratorDo you mean to develop some kind of business model which includes the provision of landscaping and gardening services for buildings that come with biodiversity features?

OkadaThat’s right, it could be for our company to take on as a business practice, but we don’t want to force it upon the residents and building users. Instead, I think it’s necessary for us to execute the project itself such that the people who actually use the space and perhaps do not have their own garden wish to get involved in some way.

ModeratorYou mean, to create a system where the customers or users themselves actively participate in the product they purchased. Instead of having them purchase a finished product and thinking that’s it for them, making them feel that the true value of their purchase is being able to get involved in it. You think that’s something you’d like to see?

OkadaWithout thinking of a pile of fallen leaves as a chore but as, say, compost to be used in the garden, you know, somehow enjoy the leaves. Although it’s only a dream, I think it’d be really be great.

Dr. KohsakaLike the view towards fallen leaves and insects, there is a small group of people within the scope of biodiversity willing to believe that ecosystem services are negative. However minor the group, this belief does exist. The concern that having green space is a nuisance can be thought of as a negative thing. The most common complaints being fallen leaves, caterpillars, bad odor, crime, and darkness. The Otemachi Project your company is taking on may share the same experience, but that project has been so diligently planned, it could even become a model case that combines targeting the renewal of nature and addresses any negative images at the same time. For example, by using indirect lighting you can create natural lighting conditions in the dark, making it difficult for criminal activities to occur, and when it comes to proposing such new ideas, it might be a great opportunity to get people engaged and have their opinions heard.
Also, although still a an elementary stage, I’ve seen some open air baths at hot spring hotels where they put up a humorous sign saying “sorry we cannot discipline the bugs to stay away”. I think it doesn’t hurt to educate those making selfish demands through the use of humor. Although customers are regarded as being superior, if we don’t draw the line somewhere and blindly try to make their every wish our command, it will really make balancing biodiversity and its negative image impossible. I think it’ll be a good idea to find out what the mutual grounds are for both to be made possible through engaging the users in dialogue.

ModeratorWhat we’ve heard just now is about consumers, but earlier we also heard about the business of fisherman and fisheries, as well as whether there’s any conflict. Is there anything you’d like to add on to this topic?

TakayamaI was involved in the relocation of eelgrass beds and seagrass before. Perhaps because it was a very small scale transplant, many times we saw unexpected varieties of seaweed growing and the transplanted weeds being covered by different types of seaweed. But when asked the fishermen who go out to the water on their boats, they said the coast has been this way for the decades they’ve spent in the sea and the kind of change we saw wasn’t anything new, just in that particular year a certain type of seaweed was prolific, and the like.
Nonetheless, when it came to transplanting eelgrass beds as a job, it was really challenging for me to try to explain how a different type of seaweed could get mixed into the bed because of changes in the environment. I still don’t have an answer to this now, and it’s something I’m not quite sure of, but I certainly felt some kind of misalignment between pursuing something as a business idea and doing something that physically improves our environment.

ModeratorWhile a business owner might ask for an environment of 100% eelgrass since they paid you money to provide it, but given this criteria can this service, be provided? Probably not. You may provide assistance, but it’s best to have those fishermen working there to join the effort and share the goal with you. When it comes to conservation of the ecosystem, it is possible to design a structure and tell others this is how it should be done, but I feel that if those who use and enjoy the space are not committed to its conservation, then the maintaining the effort isn’t so likely.

FujiharaFrom now on, we probably won’t see any more of those scenarios where one finishes construction and feels they are done with the project after it’s handed over. Since we are dealing with living things, they are dependent on their environment and grow accordingly. For example, even for roadside trees, there is the problem of being exposed to high risk from natural wind and rain disasters.
And to give another example, I heard that afforestation was very popular in Africa, but when these forests reached a good size, jackals came out to attack people and as a result the project faced protests and opposition. However, once a certain period passed, and the forest grew to the point that it stimulated rainfall; people in the same area changed their mind about the project. To be valued and further become possible to monitor the progress by being able to evaluate transitional factors is what allowed for this positive outcome. But for this to work, the business model must foster a continued relationship with the land owner or business developer even afterwards, instead of having it simply over and done with after construction.

Takahashi, MasatoshiI think it is fairly difficult for the end-users to participate in the planning phase of a project, or they are often excluded from the process. To address this, we must have a way of exchanging ideas between the contracting party and ourselves, such as through a discussion forum, so we can better hear what they have to say. In this way, I hope we can create a backbone that combines technology and the actual work.

ModeratorThank you. If I may, though it’s not to sum up, I’d like to ask each one of you to give us in a few words your reflection of today’s discussion, or how you would like to see biodiversity be integrated into business practices in the future. Who would like to go first?

Exchanging views

WatanabeAs far as working with NPOs in the region and partners in the same neighborhood, we do have a project taking place in Nanryo, Mt. Fuji aiming to save the forest. This project involves the NPOs from the planning stage and will of course involve them during the construction, and we plan to be working together 10 years after completion. So far, it has been going fairly well, and I feel mostly satisfied with the progress, but at the same time it is tricky have to work together with the locals in devising work directions. It takes coordination skills to manage the type of adjustment that will take place and to know in what direction to guide the project.
In the context of today’s theme biodiversity, for as long as there isn’t an evaluation or explanation of the outcome or certain results of doing things a certain way, I think it is difficult to form a model case. I believe this is what we will need to work on from now.

OkadaWe realize the value of diversity when we no longer have it. With biodiversity also, we can’t say exactly what it’s worth to us in terms of value, but when faced with an unpredictable risk, I believe every organism serves some kind of role, and this is something I’d like to be aware of in my work.

Takahashi, IchirouThe environmental assessment we perform can be thought of as a kind of regulation itself. The current assessment combines a structure developed through trends and making sure it does not cause any problems. But in the future, while the Ministry of the Environment is considering the direction in which to promote the Guideline for the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), I feel what we can do best as civil engineers is utilize the strategic assessment technology we possess to improve diversity.
There are a number of methods in the bidding for public projects including comprehensive evaluation systems and design build. While what was referred to as the separation of design and construction has gradually shifted to an integrated approach as it has more advantages, we heard earlier that management is an important aspect, for example in cases where good products are produced through a long-term 10 or 20 year private finance initiative (PFI). As it has been said, since this approach will be adopted in the construction of buildings, facilities, and roads, I hope to make more proposals that will improve biodiversity through the wider development and broadening of these initiatives.

AoshimaI’m convinced biodiversity is a part of social science and I think this classification is wonderful. While the natural sciences are very important, to explain using science if you will, once used to convince I feel social science will take hold. Also, from what we’ve discussed, what’s most difficult in terms of the separation of planning and construction is biodiversity from the standpoint of a strategic assessment on the contracting party’s side through the industry. Therefore, I feel it’s essential to carry on to the point where a strategic assessment can be done, and hope not everything is generalized as the separation of planning design and construction.

KaburagiThe market value and external performance evaluation of greenery is something that the administrators and operators have begun to understand. But if you call this the same thing as understanding biodiversity, not only is it slightly incorrect, but also there are sentiments toward greenery regarding it as a negative service. In this regard, I’d like to see us pay more attention and carefully watch its outcome while we work. As the Otemachi project is trying to re-create a slice of forest condition within the growth transition process of natural forests, this obviously requires management. As such, we are testing a new building process termed “Play Forest”. This is to re-create a forest following its exact shape and appearance in a slightly different location. The reason we are doing this is as the abnormal weather patterns that we all worry about become a systematic pattern, in considering the effect of winds on the entire forest and the ability of water-storage in soil, we want to understand how the plants will grow and how they can be managed. While this is a fairly new attempt, I believe this will inspire more projects to be developed in the future.

FujiwaraI think the fight will continue for a while regarding how biodiversity should be linked to business in the case of civil engineering. For global warming measures as well, mitigation strategies such as energy efficiency backed by a long history of technology are being brushed up on in construction, but for civil engineering it’s adaptation measures that is the point. As adaptation measures will not likely become business directly, listening to today’s conversations I had the impression that the battle regarding adaptation measures for biodiversity and global warming will continue for several years to come.

SaitoI felt two things from today’s discussion. On the theme of biodiversity, I felt biodiversity is a field where the construction industry should be actively involved. In addition, as today is no longer the time to simply hand over a building and be done with it, how can we provide proposals for maintenance services after the building changes hands. Perhaps the participatory concept is the best option, but when I was working on a greenery project at an elementary school the other day for example, students and PTA members helped out with the grass cutting as a part of the school’s curriculum. So without proposing a broader solution like this, I was keenly aware that progress in biodiversity cannot be simply made by technology alone.

TakayamaWithout getting into all the labels, I think there are definitely parts of nature and living things that we as people can share. On top of this, there are various interests and various challenges in doing business, so we are in a position where something we propose will not always link up to work right away. However, the thing we can do now with all this technology is enliven our discussions by creating quantitative terms to make nature and living things as well as a variety of people’s images easily visible. I think this will link to more in-depth discussions, so in that sense this is somewhere I want to make more efforts toward in the future.

Takahashi, Masatoshi.If you ask my honest feeling to what extent the 10,000 employees in our company are concerned about biodiversity, I’d probably say not too many of them are. The pyramid of the ecosystem involves each layer interacting with one another, and to us general contractors this type of ecosystem service isn’t something completely unrelated. Instead, we stand in a position where we should be actively engaged and it is important to understand these things. It could very well be some kind of loss on our part if we fail to pay attention, and realizing this can be the first step in getting our employees more deeply involved in this subject field.
The book “Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution-and How It Can Renew America” (original title) written by Thomas Friedman talked about a very symbolic scene where a man asks himself every morning as he looks into the mirror when he shaves; “Who is this person in the mirror?” and he answers to himself that it’s an endangered species. If we continue to not pay attention, even the human species itself will go extinct. The book contends if we lose the way of mutually supporting each and every species, then this will be the outcome, which I fully agree with. As we know, there are way too many people on earth, so perhaps this is bound to happen as a way of nature balancing itself, but for us, I feel these warnings are as valuable as they are insightful. That’s all from me.

ModeratorNow, I’d like to ask Ms. Fujita and Dr. Kohsaka for an external perspective.

FujitaUntil now I’ve come to know a little about this through news gathering activities, but today I’ve reaffirmed that Taisei Corporation, with its resource recycling technologies, landscaping and forest conservation, really has a variety of technologies and human resources.
The one thing I felt that perhaps could be done better is in terms of environmental communications. Like for the forest in Otemachi just discussed, for example. Being a member of the press, I always think what kind of headline would go with a story like that. I felt that the efforts of Taisei Corporation could be conveyed well by writing an easy to understand catch copy for the general public that summarizes the unique environmental development only found in this forest in Otemachi. I really feel the ability to tell a story is important to achieving this. One viable means is perhaps the term “participatory.” A little earlier we heard about the Play Forest, but if, for example, you marketed “a new forest built by the people is coming to Otemachi,” and have the general public help out with building the Play Forest, and then two years later the forest they helped build sprouts up in the middle of Otemachi, I think everyone would get really involved in it.
I felt it’s important to continually think from a sustainable framework, such as hosting a participatory event where everyone helps out with exterminating mosquitoes. And, since you have the technology to build pathways for animals, perhaps you could set up devices so animals can travel between trees in the forest in Otemachi. It would also be interesting to, say, make a staircase where visitors could observe the activities in the tree canopy. You need to punch with more of this kind of unique Taisei Corporation innovation, and if you can communicate your activities in a way that involves the broader community, then I’m willing to bet that your biodiversity initiatives will really take off and make a greater impact.

Dr. KohsakaToday the term “sophisticated technical competencies” has become a key word in our discussions, but when there is a potential overseas project with which you can assist, I think it would be wise to consider that there are rather simple low tech solutions, maybe even solutions you no longer consider viable. Japanese companies love to market their high-tech gadgets and expertise at trade fairs, but I think it would be interesting to look into the possibility of using low tech solutions for a change. For example, rather than a concrete fish pass created perfectly by a local government, having local residents create a simple low-tech fish pass that gets the job done. Even the construction of animal pathways that would cost tens of millions of yen if done by government could be done for much less if Taisei Corporation were to work together with local NPOs and other companies. I actually think there have been similar cases before. The point is, I think it’s equally important to focus attention on these low tech solutions as well.
Finally, I’d like you to think a little more about why and for what reason you are engaging in visualization. The reason for doing this is the larger goals of making corporate management become more sustainable or creating a recycling-oriented city through urban planning, but I feel too much focus is placed on the end results of how can we achieve a high ranking or how can we make this a numerical target. I think today is a good opportunity for you to make the keyword of biodiversity a key part of operations, and without getting too confused by this angle, organically link biodiversity to a variety of initiatives.

ModeratorAllow me to summarize the views of everyone from Taisei Corporation. We heard about the Play Forest, and that biodiversity takes a great deal of work just like Shinjuku Gyoen National Park, and that we need to get people involved. And, these merits, if applied, will not be directly returned to the client soon, so it’s kind of hard to show them a lot of different things. There are immediate conflicts with business. There were discussions of how people really want something, but only if it’s to their liking, such as wanting greenery but no odors, and it was pointed out that there are a lot of contradictions out there. I believe in the end we heard about how to continue to focus on strategic assessments.
Also, we heard how biodiversity is a key battlefield for major general contractors. I think this really is a positive, and because these large general contractors have close connections with living things at their work sites, I suspect the positives and negatives are more visible to them than to ordinary people.
Given this, incorporating biodiversity initiatives in business will link up with community building when considering biodiversity. Until now, the role of general contractors ended once the building was built and handed over. This was the same for all construction including factories and buildings. I believe we also heard about how going forward this needs to be changed to buildings with greenery and factories with on-site woodland. Buildings and factories without greenery or woodland are not viable to future business operations. Moreover, this greenery and woodland also actually forms part of the local community, so we must think long-term, avoid the mentality of simply handing over the finished product, and be committed to people in the local community. In the end, I think we need to build communities together.
Taisei Corporation is essentially already doing this, but if we are to incorporate biodiversity more explicitly in business, there is a need to work with NPOs who can work together in the long run and cultivate the next generation to pass the torch onto. This may also become the job of major general contractors. Until now, general contractors have been mainly involved in an upstream business so to speak, where they simply hand over the finished product. Going forward, the downstream business if you will, where follow-up is conducted after completion, is where things are headed in business as a result of biodiversity conservation. Not just dumping things in the lap of NPOs, once you can think of biodiversity as strategically part of business, I feel the previously mentioned contradictions and problems can be more easily resolved.
I believe we were able to have a very fulfilling discussion today. Thank you very much everyone.

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Concluding Remarks My role in this dialog was to introduce Taisei Corporation’ biodiversity conservation program to the outside experts. Ms. Kawaguchi, facilitator of this dialogue, from Daiwa securities revealed that it is easy to understand biodiversity when we realize that biodiversity is not come from natural science, but from social science. Dr. Kohsaka emphasized that the benefit for human being from biodiversity deeply relates to the magnitude and variety of biodiversity, and it is not solved how we react if biodiversity is deteriorated. Ms. Fujita informed that political solution is required to deal with this issue to support 6.8 billion people’s life and we need environmental communication mechanism to spread our biodiversity conservation activity to the public. In conclusion, we can say that biodiversity for the construction company is the Communication to other types of business, industries, and peoples outside construction field.