Yokohama project in China addresses biodiversity concerns

Tokyo ? Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd is stepping up its activities aimed at restoring or improving biodiversity at locations around its facilities - as the tire sector seeks to address rising concerns about the impact of the industry on the environment.

Hangzhou Yokohama Tire Co., Ltd., one of Yokohama’s two tire-making subsidiaries in China, has started biodiversity conservation activities in partnership with Hangzhou Normal University’s College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Yokohama announced 19 June.

The project, which started in May, is focused on protecting the biodiversity of a riverside marsh located adjacent to the subsidiary’s plant site in the Hangzhou Xiaoshan Technological Development Zone.

Over the next three years, the partners plan to monitor water quality and study the variety of wildlife in the wetlands, with the goal of supporting recovery of the area’s biodiversity.

The marsh is a natural wetland covering an area of more than five square kilometers along the shore of the Qiantang River. It attracts a wide variety of wildlife and are important resting place and sanctuary for birds.

However, the convergence of companies in the development zone and a growing nearby population have led to increased pollution of the riverbank and deterioration of the marsh’s water quality. This, added a Yokohama press release, has resulted in the deterioration of the local ecological environment.

Hangzhou Yokohama Tire, which began operations in 2003, manufactures tires for passenger cars and SUVs. The company's 1,420-employee operation has an annual output of 30 million tires.

Other tire companies with active biodiversity programmes include Michelin, which recently signed an international deal to produce eco-friendly natural rubber in Indonesia. 

The French group is also among a number of tire makers working with the WWF to promote best practices in sustainable natural rubber production.

In a recent report, researchers at the University of East Anglia, warned that rising tire-industry demand for natural rubber was threatening biodiversity in protected parts of southeast Asia,

Up to 8.5 million hectares of additional rubber plantations are expected to be required to meet increasing global demand for tires by 2024, a study at the UK university found.

Expansion on this scale, said the report, will have ‘catastrophic’ biodiversity impacts, with globally threatened unique species and ecosystems all put under threat.