Suntory Bird Conservation Activities Are Turning 50: A Look at the Past and the Future (Part 1)

Today Birds, Tomorrow Humans

Suntory’s bird conservation activities started in 1973. Japan was in the middle of a period of high economic growth at the time and brimming with vitality and energy, but pollution was also starting to become a problem. We were gradually losing our precious natural environment for the sake of everyday convenience. Most of Suntory products are dependent on the blessings of nature. With a sense of crisis that losing this precious nature would greatly impact Suntory’s future, we started conducting activities to raise public awareness for nature conservation in the form of bird conservation activities.
Suntory was searching for a message that would be more effective than simply proclaiming “Care for the environment,” and decided on the slogan “Today Birds, Tomorrow Humans” (The misfortune that befalls birds may befall humans tomorrow).
Birds have wings and will fly away if the environment is degraded, but will come back if the environment improves. They are therefore a barometer of environmental health as well as a familiar presence that people encounter more or less every day. Suntory believed that making birds the symbol of its public awareness campaign would prompt all kinds of people to turn their thoughts to nature.

Newspaper ad for the bird conservation campaign that ran in 1973. “The issue advocacy ads that ran in newspapers for more than 10 years garnered an incredible response. I’ve met people involved in our conservation activities today who say that they were inspired to get engaged after seeing those ads as a child,” comments Takai.

These photos were taken at Tokyo Port Wild Bird Park, where there were a surprisingly large number of wild birds for its location near Tokyo Port.

We’re continuing bird conservation activities with the slogan “Today Birds, Tomorrow Humans,” based on the message that the fortune that birds receive may lead to human happiness tomorrow.

The Eagles/Hawks Rearing Support Project for Restoring Healthy Habitats

Specific activities we’re conducting include the Eagles/Hawks Rearing Support Project and the Owl Nest Box Project. These are bird conservation activities that use birds of prey as their symbols.
The many different creatures that live in forests create an ecosystem pyramid. To rear the raptors such as eagles and hawks that are at the top of this pyramid, there needs to be an abundance of creatures for them to eat and large forests that support these creatures. Forests that enable raising raptor offspring have a large ecosystem pyramid with a wide base. This is the sign of a healthy and abundant forest.

On the day of the photoshoot, we saw a young goshawk swooping majestically in the air. This shows that if you look carefully, you may be able to catch sight of raptors even in Tokyo.

At the Natural Water Sanctuaries where we manage healthy forests that nurture water at the source of our plants, we’re conducting surveys to confirm the habitat status of birds, which are a barometer of environmental health. This data is used as one guideline for creating abundant forests. Each year, raptors raise their young in Natural Water Sanctuaries, and so far we’ve confirmed a total of 103 instances of nesting across eight species.

The number of large trees in Japanese forests is declining, and therefore there are fewer tree hollows for owls to raise their young. Nest boxes are set up in Suntory Natural Water Sanctuaries to temporarily relieve owls’ “housing shortage.”

For more information about the Eagles/Hawks Rearing Support Project and the Owl Nest Box Project, see the Suntory Natural Water Sanctuary Biodiversity Restoration Report.

Suntory Natural Water Sanctuary Biodiversity Restoration Report

As part of the Suntory Natural Water Sanctuary Kita-Alps agreement concluded in 2019, we’ve been conducting surveys of wild birds, improving forest conditions to be closer to what conditions were like when raptors built nests here, and installing artificial nesting platforms. Then in 2022, a pair of goshawks successfully built a nest and raised young here. It was wonderful to see three fledgling goshawks successfully take flight from the nest.

The bird conservation activities we started in 1973 are marking their 50th anniversary. I think that the message in advocacy ads Suntory ran in newspapers to raise public awareness back then are aligned with the SDGs and are still relevant even today. These aspirations since the start of the activities have been passed down to the present as our DNA.

(Continued in Part 2)

Photos courtesy of the Wild Bird Society of Japan, Tokyo Port Wild Bird Park