On the occasion of the 52nd edition of World Earth Day, which was celebrated on April 22, 2022, the French cosmetics company Yves Saint Laurent Beauté (YSL Beauty) announced land restoration activities in Morocco and Madagascar.
In Morocco it will be a question of restoring 1,000 hectares of land in the Ourika valley located 30 km from Marrakech, in the west of the kingdom. It is in this region that YSL Beauty draws part of its raw material, cultivating a wide variety of ingredients such as pomegranate, marshmallow, iris, jasmine, walnut or saffron. The area, which is home to more than 200 botanical species, is however threatened by numerous ecological risks, including rising temperatures, deforestation and natural disasters.
In Madagascar, YSL Beauty’s sustainability policy will be implemented in the Anjozorobe Angavo protected area, located 90 km northeast of Antananarivo, the capital of the East African country. It is a primary forest corridor, one of the last remnants of natural forests in the Central Highlands of Madagascar, where 558 species of plants, 9 species of lemurs, 34 species of amphibians, 36 species of reptiles and 75 species of birds live together. To contribute to the restoration of this forest corridor, the cosmetics brand intends to plant 400,000 trees by 2023.
Restore 100,000 hectares of land by 2030
The land restoration activities that the luxury brand YSL Beauty is planning in Morocco and Madagascar are contained in a global program, called “Rewild Our Earth.” The goal of the program is to restore 100,000 hectares of land by 2030, nearly ten times the size of the Chadian capital N’Djamena (104 km²), and preserve the biodiversity of the company’s supply areas, which are threatened by climate deregulation. “At a time when more than a million species are on the verge of extinction and 75% of the earth’s environment is altered, this long-term project was designed to have a concrete impact on nature and biodiversity. To translate this philosophy into action, we have taken the gamble of committing ourselves to a revolution in ecosystem restoration,” explains Stephan Bezy, YSL Beauté’s International Managing Director.
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“Rewild Our Earth” is produced in collaboration with Re: Wild. The non-governmental organization (NGO) works in over 188 conservation areas in 89 countries.
Boris Ngounou