ITOCHU Corporation and Yahoo Japan Corporation are pleased to announce “Yahoo! Auction MOTTAINAI Month,” a joint initiative by Yahoo! Auctions and the MOTTAINAI Campaign, in which ITOCHU Corporation plays a central role. “Yahoo! Auction MOTTAINAI Month” is an opportunity for people to use online auctions as a way of taking action on the environment, and will run from February 2 until February 28.

The MOTTAINAI Campaign started in March 2005 as a worldwide campaign to create a sustainable, recycling-oriented society by promoting lifestyles that do not place a burden on the Earth's environment. ITOCHU Corporation played a central role in the creation of this campaign.

Yahoo! Auction has always advocated a “recycling-oriented lifestyle,” with the catch phrase “Let's reuse unnecessary things, not throw them away!” This lead to the creation of the “Yahoo! Auction MOTTAINAI Month” as Yahoo! Auction's way of expressing support for the MOTTAINAI Campaign.

During the Yahoo! Auction MOTTAINAI Month, MOTTAINAI Lab Researchers will hold a “MOTTAINAI Charity Auction” where participants can help by contributing items to be sold in the auction. The proceeds of the auction will be used to support reforestation activities.

The details of the “Yahoo! Auction MOTTAINAI Month” are as follows.

The MOTTAINAI Charity Auction

Wangari Maathai, MOTTAINAI advocate and recipient of the first Nobel Peace Prize to be awarded for environmental achievements in 2004, will be joined by eighteen celebrities who are participating in MOTTAINAI Lab as researchers to hold a relay-style charity auction. The schedule is as follows. (Names are listed in alphabetical order.)

All of the profits from this charity will be donated to the Green Belt Movement.