Planting 57 Million Trees on an Area 56 Times Larger Than Yeouido
White Paper to Be Released on Website This Month
Yuhan-Kimberly's forest environment public campaign, "Our Mountains and Rivers, Green and Greener," has reached its 40th anniversary. It has been revealed that over 57 million trees have been planted and nurtured across an area 56 times the size of Yeouido.
Yuhan-Kimberly announced on the 4th that it has published the 40th anniversary white paper for "Our Mountains and Rivers, Green and Greener." The white paper is scheduled to be released on the company’s website within this month.
Started in 1984, the campaign is a representative example of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) model that leads the development of both society and business based on collaborative governance. As pollution emerged as a social issue during the industrialization process in the late 1970s, Yuhan-Kimberly sought ways to contribute to solving environmental problems through social contribution. Through this, the campaign focused on the fact that forests are the foundation of healthy ecosystems including water, soil, and air.
Beginning with tree planting in national and public forests, the campaign later expanded to address global environmental issues such as climate change, desertification, and fine dust. It further developed into forest management, school forests, green camps, urban forests, and desertification prevention forests in Mongolia. Through these efforts, more than 57 million trees have been planted and nurtured over approximately 16,500 hectares domestically and internationally?an area equivalent to 56 times the size of Yeouido. During the process of overcoming the IMF financial crisis, collaboration with NGOs, expert groups, and the Korea Forest Service created about 170,000 jobs.
Experts involved in summarizing the achievements of the 40th anniversary of the "Our Mountains and Rivers, Green and Greener" campaign analyzed that the campaign’s longevity was due to "demonstrating sincerity based on a clear purpose." They especially evaluated that the establishment of governance based on collaboration among government, civil society, and experts, and the practice of shared goals, served as the driving force.
According to a survey conducted last year by Yuhan-Kimberly through MacroMill Embrain, 77% of the public recognized the "Our Mountains and Rivers, Green and Greener" campaign. This recognition led to an average 27% increase in preference for individual product brands when consumers learned that the products were from Yuhan-Kimberly.
Jin Jae-seung, CEO of Yuhan-Kimberly, said, “I sincerely thank all stakeholders who have added wisdom and support so that the ‘Our Mountains and Rivers, Green and Greener’ campaign can continue for 40 years and become a catalyst for social change.” He added, “Although our strength is small, we will continue to strive to contribute together as a corporate citizen to overcoming the urgent climate crisis.”
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