Canon Corporate Volunteer Team Helps to Remove Invasive Species for Protecting Biodiversity in Mai Po Nature Reserve - Canon HongKong

Canon Corporate Volunteer Team Helps to Remove Invasive Species for Protecting Biodiversity in Mai Po Nature Reserve

Canon has always adhered to the corporate philosophy “Kyosei” to take the balance of all aspects into account and commit to giving back to the community, especially to the environmental conservation. As a corporate member of the World Wide Fund For Nature Hong Kong (WWF-HK), Canon Hongkong Company Limited (Canon Hong Kong) was invited to participate in the “Remove Invasive Exotic Species, Mikania” Volunteer Service on 22 October at Mai Po Nature Reserve to protect biodiversity.

A total of 25 volunteers joined the activity. They are not only from Canon Hong Kong but also from 2 other Canon companies in Hong Kong including Canon Electronic Business Machines (H.K.) Co., Ltd. (CEBM) and Canon Engineering Hong Kong Co., Ltd. (CEHK). This is the first joint activity of 3 Canon companies in Hong Kong after the pandemic situation was slightly relieved, which added more meaning and value to the volunteer service.

During the event, the WWF-HK guider introduced the wetland ecosystem to volunteers, including Gei Wai, fishponds, reed beds and the animals and plants inhabiting them. However, such beautiful nature is covered under the the “Plant Killer” invisible threat, Mikania. After learning how to identify Mikania and its harmful impact on the photosynthesis of other local plants, the volunteers put up their hand gloves and started to remove this climbing plant manually which caused minimal damage to nature. The removed plants were then put on the hand trolley and delivered to the designated collection area where WWF-HK staff will further handle later. After around 2-hour work, the volunteer team finally removed nearly 40kg of Mikania.

Mr. Kazuhiro Ozawa, President & CEO of Canon Hong Kong, also joined the volunteer service for the first time after his on board. He said, ‘I am glad to support the volunteer service in person and contribute my hands to protect the biodiversity in Mai Po Nature Reserve which is renowned worldwide on my first visit, together with other Canon staff.’

With the vast area of Mai Po Nature Reserve, the volunteer team could only help to remove Mikania for a particular part of the whole. There are still many areas that have not been taken care of. Therefore, to remove the Mikania without using any herbicide and let the local plant species save from cutting light for photosynthesis to affect their growth, the manual removal works needs to be done consistently. All the volunteers mentioned that they would continue to participate again next round in contributing to ecosystem balance and maintaining the biodiversity in Mai Po Nature Reserve.