Marubeni Corporation (hereinafter, “Marubeni”) signed a Memorandum of Understanding for a feasibility study of an industrial plantation and an environmental plantation through a reforestation project in Angola, a country located in southern Africa (hereinafter, the “Project”), with ALCAAL ANGOLA- Investimentos e Participações Lda (hereinafter, “IEP”), a large-scale agricultural company. 

Africa has the largest deforested area in the world, and reforestation is an urgent issue. The Project will be implemented in about 31,000 hectares of land in southern Angola. While this area has been planted previously, it has been neglected for more than 40 years, and the land has degraded due to illegal logging and other factors. Through the Project, Marubeni and IEP (which holds the exclusive right to develop the area) will work together to implement afforestation and reforestation in Angola. Another aim of the Project is to halt deforestation in Africa and contribute to environmental conservation and global warming countermeasures. The two companies will endeavor to establish a carbon credit program, which will involve using timber to revitalize the forest industry and using the forests for carbon absorption and sequestration. 

Marubeni’s efforts in this area align with the company’s long-term vision for climate change (formulated in March 2021) and its green strategy, one of the basic policies to enhance corporate value in the company’s mid-term management strategy “GC2024.” Marubeni also has an abundance of experience in plantation projects—namely, approximately 130,000 hectares in Indonesia and Australia (with a total cross-project area of approximately 290,000 hectares as of May 2023)—and is currently engaged in a reforestation project in the Philippines that is similar to the Project in Angola. By applying the knowledge and expertise accumulated through this experience to the Project, Marubeni aims to enhance the environmental and economic value of forest resources and to open the way to a sustainable future through the power of people and forests.

Overview of IEP
Name:	ALCAAL ANGOLA- Investimentos e Participações Lda
Location:	Luanda, Angola
Establishment:	2014
Website:	https://alcaalangola.com/
Business:	IEP engages in large-scale mechanical farming of cereals such as maize, soybeans, miscellaneous beans, wheat, and rice on a total  of about 30,000 hectares in three provinces in Angola. IEP is also the operator of the Textang textile mill in Angola, for which Marubeni has undertaken the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC).

Related press release:
February 10, 2023
“Developing a Reforestation Carbon Credit Program, the First Such Industry-Academia-Government Collaboration the Philippines”
https://www.marubeni.com/en/news/2023/release/00019.html