Toyota Motor : launches Biodiversity & Sustainability Learning Center to complement its Biotope project in Thailand

22 June 2016―Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn graciously presided over the launch of the Toyota Biodiversity and Sustainability Learning Center 'Cheewa Panavet' at the Toyota Ban Pho Plant in Thailand. 'Cheewa Panavet' is a combination of three Thai words, Cheewa(life), Pana(forest), and Vet(habitat). The learning center represents Toyota's commitment to the environment as it adds a greater learning element to the Toyota Biotope, a habitat of living organisms spanning over 96,000 square meters.

Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn received an audience consisting of Mr. Kyoichi Tanada, Managing Officer, Toyota Motor Corporation and President, Toyota Motor Thailand. The event was also attended by senior government representatives from Thailand as well as Toyota's top executives, dealers, suppliers, the private sector, the Chachoengsao local communities and the media.

In over 50 years of Toyota's operations in Thailand, the company has been committed to contributing to Thailand by being a good corporate citizen, and by contributing to the sustainable development and human resources of Thailand. The environment is a part of Toyota's commitment, including the conservation and preservation of the environment through Toyota's initiatives such as the 'Toyota Green Town'projectto create sustainable integrated environmental efforts that cover all areas of the country.

Toyota believes that the automotive industry can be environmentally sustainable, and hence Toyota launched the Eco Forest, an afforestation project, at the Toyota Ban Pho Plant in 2008. The following year, Toyota embarked on the Toyota BiotopeProject which is the first of its kind in Thailand―to create a habitat of living organisms, born out of manmade efforts, around the plant. This was done with the objective of environmental conservation and knowledge dissemination. In 2016, the project has been brought to a new level as Toyota sought to include a greater learning element. This gave birth to the Toyota Biodiversity and Sustainability Learning Center 'Cheewa Panavet.'

The Toyota Biodiversity and Sustainability Learning Center 'Cheewa Panavet' was born from the determination of Toyota to raise the level of awareness of the Thai people of the value of the environmental and biodiversity through learning and experiencing a 'classroom in nature'. Toyota is cooperating with the Foundation for Environmental Education for Sustainable Development (Thailand) and Office of the Basic Education Commission (OBEC), Ministry of Education, to provide environmental education. This is done in the form of helping to develop a curriculum for students, and by 2016 to run a trial on environmental lessons from 'Cheewa Panavet' to secondary schools in Chachoengsao Province before doing an assessment for further improvements on our efforts.