MARCH/APRIL 2017

Dear Readers,

Half of the world’s population lives less than 50km from the coast. This raises major environmental and human issues. Eighty percent of our garbage ends up in the seas and oceans. Marie Christine Huau, member of our Board of Experts from the very beginning, shares with us this reality, her concerns and her motivations. An agronomist specialized in coastal oceanography and marine biodiversity, she invites us to reflect on those very specific environments situated between land and sea. We are offered the opportunity to see the planet from both sides – at their interface – and to envision new paradigms. For as we know, oceans also play a key role in climate regulation. They are not only crucial for the conservation of marine resources and biodiversity but also for sustainable human well-being.

Everything is connected...as can equally be seen from the testimonies of our beneficiaries. By embarking on new ventures to sustainably conserve their natural resources, it is in fact local community life that they are helping to sustain. Their stories matter because they help us to understand what is happening on the ground, the difficulties people face, the energy each of them expends. Their testimony contributes to the sharing of experiences encouraged by the Foundation through its various publications and website. A new fact sheet compiled with our partner Blue Ventures has just been published, describing how to collect valuable data on fishery catches, simply using a mobile phone. Don’t hesitate to download and share the information...

Enjoy our Newsletter!

Jacqueline Délia Brémond
Co-Chair

‘All too often, we forget that everything we produce and/or consume sooner or later ends up in the ocean...’

Today, over 50% of the world’s population lives less than 50km from the coast. The environmental and human impacts are far-reaching. ‘Coastalization’ is escalating worldwide. Marie Christine Huau, member of the Foundation’s Board of Experts, explains the mechanisms involved, the issues at stake and the merits of integrated management of coastal areas.

What do you mean by integrated management of coastal areas?

I mean a global approach that creates synergy, applying all the data for a given area to the coast, at the land-sea interface. All too often, we only consider the sea from a landward perspective. Sailors are well aware of the difference in viewpoint when they approach the coast from the sea.

Read more ... 

Using technology to combat illegal logging in the Amazonian rainforests

The Madre de Dios region, in the southern Peruvian Amazon basin, has the richest biodiversity in Peru. It is made up of protected areas and settled by various indigenous communities. However, the region faces threats from illegal logging and mining. Supported by Fondation Ensemble and led by Rainforest Foundation UK, this project gives local communities the technical means for better monitoring of forest lands. Thanks to low-cost technology, they will now be able to report illegal activities simply from a tablet or mobile phone.

See the technology used being described in this video:

The Foundation gives beneficiaries a voice

Jessica Julaia is a researcher for 'Ocean Revolution' in Mozambique as part of the "Entrepreneurial Biodiversity Conservation" project. She talks to us about her country, its abundant natural resources, the importance of learning and passing on her skills and her vision of the ‘ocean revolutionaries of tomorrow’. 

Read the testimonies of Louisa Tejada Garcia and Hermosinda Vejarano de Portugal, beneficiaries of the 'Louvain Coopération' project in Peru ‘Organic farming: a sustainable solution to hunger and poverty’. They tell us about the growing demand for organic produce in local markets, the role of women and the benefits for their community.

Travel to Ecuador with Carmen Ulcuango and Isidro Chicaïza, both beneficiaries of the AVSF project ‘Agroecological production and development of local markets by Indian organizations in the north of Ecuador’. By choosing to stay in their own community and develop sustainable local food production, they are giving their families the chance of a bright future in their local environment.

For a historical map of the 265 projects we have funded since the Foundation was set up, click here. To search the entire project fact sheet database, click here.

How to optimize monitoring of fishery catches and conserve marine resources?

Blue Venture and ZSL have developed a participatory data collection system, at low cost via a mobile phone app, that will enable fishery catches to be monitored. This innovative system, first developed in Madagascar, is now being piloted in northern Mozambique, where it will enable valuable data to be generated on artisanal fisheries and the state of the region’s natural resources.

Click here to access the downloadable fact sheet.

Click here to access the project presentation.

‘Together’: the Brémond's Adventure

In this interview, Gérard Brémond and Jacqueline Délia Brémond evoke, for Le Figaro’s journalist Carole Papazian, their convictions, what guides them in this adventure and the strategic choices they made during the 13 years of experience in their family foundation, ‘Ensemble’ (Together).

Click here to download the whole article, published in Le Figaro, 22 March 2017 (in French).

Editor-in-chief: O. Braunsteffer
Graphic design and text: B. Galliot, B. Gicquaud
The Foundation wishes to thank its partners for the photographic material included in this issue.

Fondation Ensemble - 1 rue de Fleurus - 75006 PARIS.