Protecting the Forests That Nurture Abundant Water: Suntory Natural Water Sanctuary Initiative

The Suntory Natural Water Sanctuary Initiative, which is aimed at protecting water resources in the water source of our factories and preserving biodiversity in the forest, started in 2003. It is essential for Suntory to maintain quality groundwater, which is our lifeline. Tomoyuki Ichida, General Manager in the Sustainability Management Division of Suntory Holdings Limited, explains why this initiative matters for us.

"Soft Soil" and "Biodiversity” Are the Key for Healthy Forest

Water is vital for our business. And that is why Suntory has been committed to water quality since its foundation. Without good water, beer or whisky cannot be made. This is also why we promote the Suntory Natural Water Sanctuary Initiative as part of our business activities and not as a volunteer activity.

This diagram illustrates the forest biodiversity pyramid in Japan and shows how animals and plants are connected in the food chain. The ecosystem is like a pyramid, with more animals and plants occupying the middle and bottom layers than the high-order consumers at the top of the pyramid.

Healthy and abundant forests function to recharge water sources by storing large amounts of water in the soil. To do this, the forests must have soft soil that can absorb lots of rainfall like a sponge as well as a richly diverse ecosystem that creates this soil. Sunlight does not reach the ground in neglected, overgrown forests. In such forests, undergrowth and shrubs that would cover the forest floor cannot grow. When this happens, the worms, springtails (Collembola) and other organisms that cultivate soil no longer live in the soil, and the soil hardens and water cannot be stored in the soil. But if you cut down some of the trees in these overgrown forests to let light in, you can create conditions for undergrowth to grow and these soil organisms also return. Healthy forests that nurture abundant water resources have these soil organisms at the base of their large ecosystem pyramid, and they support the birds of prey such as eagles and hawks at the top of the pyramid.

Nature Positive: Global Trend to Restore Nature

Thinning trees and other forest management activities are certainly important, but each forest faces its own set of problems. People often talked about the PDCA (plan, do, check, action) cycle in my previous job in sales, but when you’re talking about water resource cultivation, research before the planning phase is the key. We conduct extensive research on forests in the Suntory Water Sanctuary Initiative to ensure that our conservation activities are the right ones for that forest.

Evergreen trees are cut down to improve light conditions and promote growth of understory vegetation typically found in deciduous forests. Suntory also provides forest management program to approximately 7,000 employees in Group companies in Japan.

The Suntory Water Sanctuary Initiative began in Aso City, Kumamoto Prefecture, and has expanded to 22 locations in 15 prefectures today, which comprise a total area of about 12,000 ha. In 2019, we achieved the target we set to recharge more than double the amount of groundwater that we use in our plants in Japan. With our aspiration to give back more than we take, we are proactively implementing “water positive”. And now the “nature positive” concept to halt biodiversity loss and restore nature taken hold around the world. There is a global consensus to protect 30% of land and sea by 2030, so called “30by30” goal. I believe the Suntory Water Sanctuary Initiative that nurture healthy forests rich in biodiversity also aligns with the 30by30 movement.