Vision and objectives

Our vision

We are convinced that the preservation of biodiversity is one of the cornerstones of sustainable development. However, those involved in nature conservation are often seen as "Eco" idealists, disconnected from economic realities. Furthermore, sustainable development still suffers from a very theoretical (or simplistic) image, merely consisting of a few "eco-gestures".

Only a profound break with this image will allow the masses to be mobilised in order to face the 21^st century's major challenges.

Our ambition

We want to develop concrete initiatives providing solutions that are focused on the preservation of biodiversity. This way, we can convince people that biodiversity and human development can coexist by establishing new ways of sustainable living, and that everyone (citizens, companies, government agencies) is a potential agent of change. With this goal in mind, we have set four main objectives:

• Getting the public to consider its relationship with nature, the essential character of biodiversity and the threats that it is facing.
• Eliciting curiosity and providing everyone with the keys required to envision a future where human activities and biodiversity harmoniously coexist.
• Demonstrating that those who have adopted a sustainable development approach are well grounded in reality, taking charge of their future by gradually reinventing their lifestyle, their activities and their business.
• Understanding the reasons why such men and women worry about the planet's future and why they take action in order to face this environmental ultimatum, which is the 21^st century's biggest challenge.

Biodiversity: a global issue at the heart of sustainable development

When the subject of biodiversity comes up, we immediately think of lush rain forests, endangered species or the beautiful scenery that the natural world has gradually created.

But we often forget about all of the favours that nature has done for mankind over the last several hundreds of thousands of years: pollination, raw materials, consistent water quality, disease prevention… the value of these ecological services is estimated at 33,000 billion dollars per year ⁽¹⁾, which is more than twice the wealth produced by humans.

From this observation, we quickly understand that the future of nature conservation is in the hands of people who are well grounded in reality, facing critical issues both locally as well as globally. This conservation of nature is highly promising as it creates new economic opportunities.

In 2002, during the Earth Summit in Johannesburg, governments committed to slowing down the erosion of biodiversity by the end of 2010. This objective has not been reached ⁽²⁾. The consequences for mankind are direct: 60% of ecosystem services are threatened ⁽³⁾.

The United Nations wanted to highlight this threat by declaring 2010 the "International Biodiversity Year". Our project follows the same logic: by seeking out those who actively protect nature, we will highlight the threats arising from the loss of biodiversity and will describe the solutions that these men and women, whose actions reflect a sustainable development approach, are using to cope with this risk.