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Awards and Recognition

March 27, 2018

Canon’s Furusato Project — Linking Our Dream to the Future wins the Minister’s Award from the Ministry of the Environment

Canon’s Furusato Project — Linking Our Dream to the Future, a biodiversity preservation and awareness-raising program, won the Minister’s Award from the Ministry of the Environment, Japan, in the Contest for Corporate Activities on Biodiversity (organized by the Contest for Corporate Activities on Biodiversity Committee and supported by the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries).

Images of The Furusato Project logo

The Furusato Project logo

Images of Scene from a rice-planting experience

Scene from a rice-planting experience

Images of Scene from a photography class

Scene from a photography class

The contest was created to promote more extensive biodiversity activities. Awards are presented to various biodiversity preservation activities and sustainable uses that have made outstanding achievements. The Furusato Project won the Minister’s Award from the Ministry of the Environment this year for the breadth of its activities and the project’s long-standing continuation, as well as for its “dreams of children” theme.

The Canon Group runs activities throughout Japan under the banner of the Furusato Project, with the objective of passing on beautiful, lush communities to the children of the future. A unique feature of the Furusato Project is the broad assistance Canon provides to cooperating organizations running citizen-participatory programs, selected through a public application process, in the form of donations based on the number of used cartridges the organizations collect for recycling.

Specific examples include assistance to bolster biodiversity expertise and organizational capabilities and providing support for planning, supervising, and operating programs. Assistance also utilizes the Canon Group’s strengths, such as holding photography classes and loaning cameras, printers, and other equipment.

Since the Furusato Project began in 2010, more than 6,000 people have participated in more than supported 300 programs (as of the end of November 2017).

The Furusato Project also contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)* adopted by the United Nations. It specifically addresses Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, Goal 13: Climate Action, Goal 14: Life Below Water, Goal 15: Life on Land, and Goal 17: Partnerships for the Goals.

Canon fully recognizes biodiversity as an important basis for a sustainable society and is committed to carrying out activities that realize its pledge to “Contributing to the realization of a community rich in biodiversity,” as enshrined in the Group-wide Biodiversity Policy.

  • *The Sustainable Development Goals are a collection of 17 global goals set by the United Nations to be achieved by 2030.