Over 70 employees and family members plant 315 individuals across 15 species; initiative part of public-private arboretum alliance

OCI Group employees pose for a photo after a biodiversity conservation activity in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, on Saturday. [OCI Group]
OCI Group employees pose for a photo after a biodiversity conservation activity in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, on Saturday. [OCI Group]

OCI Holdings announced Monday that more than 70 employees and their family members took part in the company's first planting volunteer activity for endangered, rare and endemic plant species in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, on Saturday.

The event is part of the Arboretum Alliance, a program led by the Korea Arboretum and Garden Institute under the Korea Forest Service, through which OCI Holdings is developing a biodiversity conservation garden near its Pocheon training center.

The Arboretum Alliance is a cooperative framework in which national, public and private arboretums share resources and expertise and carry out joint projects in partnership with companies and institutions.

Employees and family members from four affiliates participated — OCI Holdings, OCI Co., OCI Dream (a standard workplace for people with disabilities) and Bukwang Pharmaceutical.

Before the planting, participants received training from experts at the Korea Association of Botanic Gardens and Arboreta on forest biodiversity and the importance of ex-situ conservation — the practice of relocating rare and endemic plants to safe sites outside their natural habitats. The group then planted on a roughly 660-square-meter site near the Pocheon training center.

A total of 315 individuals spanning 15 species were planted, including the Korean fir — an IUCN-listed endangered species and Korean endemic — along with white forsythia, Korean winter hazel, island ninebark and iris setosa, all native plants of high scientific and ecological value.

OCI Holdings plans to work with the Korea Arboretum and Garden Institute and the Korea Association of Botanic Gardens and Arboreta to monitor the growth, flowering and fruiting of the planted specimens and collect seeds. Seeds meeting the required criteria will be deposited at national seed conservation facilities, including the Seed Vault.

"OCI Holdings will continue to advance biodiversity conservation activities and ESG management in line with our identity as a global renewable energy company," said Cha Jeong-hwan, senior vice president of OCI Holdings' corporate communications division.


keg@heraldcorp.com