The luxury cosmetics brand YSL Beauté has launched an ambitious global project, Rewild Our Earth, expanding its sustainability platform with the aim of protecting and safeguarding the planet’s biodiversity and restoring and working on the most affected areas in different territories.
On the 18th of April 2022, a few days before Earth Day, YSL Beauté unveiled its new global program in collaboration with the international NGO Re: Wind. This organization is dedicated to environmental protection and the preservation of global fauna and flora, as well as the restoration of territories and the care of the most affected areas.
The aim of the project is, above all, to achieve a positive impact on the planet and also on the people living on it. One of the objectives of the program is to protect and restore 100,000 hectares of land by 2030 – an area the size of ten Parises. This includes safeguarding biodiversity around the world, particularly in areas most affected by climate change. Additionally, these at-risk areas are where the company cultivates and sources many of its natural ingredients for products, drawing inspiration from its significant involvement in the innovative community garden initiative in the Ourika Valley, Morocco.
Sustainability above all
To express this commitment to the environment and people with complete transparency, the luxury cosmetic brand YSL Beauté has presented its first sustainability report highlighting the firm’s efforts on sustainability in each of its operations.
“Commitment to the Earth is one of the pillars of YSL Beauté, a brand inspired by the legacy of Yves Saint Laurent, a nature lover who, throughout his career, drew inspiration from the natural wonders of Morocco.”
The Rewind Our Earth project by YSL Beauté, alongside the NGO Re: Wild, primarily works on the concept of bringing wildlife back to the planet. This initiative has gradually gained ground.
In 2013, they created the innovative project mentioned earlier, the gardens of Ourika in Morocco, and for 2022, they will focus on the following priority areas: working to reclaim at-risk lands and helping to empower local populations.
In 2021, YSL Beauté reaffirmed its commitments as part of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. With the new Rewild Our Earth project, they are working in 188 conservation areas in 89 countries to protect and restore biodiversity and expand ecological recovery on a global scale.
A long-term initiative to protect, restore, and recover biodiversity on the planet, in partnership with YSL Beauté and Re: Wild
For 2022, the program will specifically focus on implementing wildlife recovery programs in specific working areas, mainly aimed at restoring biodiversity in places where the brand sources ingredients for its products. Wildlife recovery on Earth is an innovative conservation approach based on a progressive effort to foster natural processes, repair degraded and damaged ecosystems, and reclaim deteriorated landscapes, allowing nature to recover on its own.
As Re: Wild’s CEO, Penny Langhammer, expresses, we don’t need to reinvent planet Earth; we just need to restore biodiversity to create new opportunities; otherwise, ecosystems affected by climate change will not recover. “As a global society, our livelihoods and the health of our planet depend on biodiversity.” And that’s why they have partnered with YSL to restore these ecosystems, not only necessary but urgent to recover; “Currently, over 1 million species are on the brink of extinction, and 75% of the Earth’s land surface is degraded,” explains Stephan Bezy, International General Manager of YSL Beauté.
“Change the rules, change the future” is an ambitious sustainability platform that prioritizes people and the planet.
“At YSL Beauté, we believe in giving, not just taking; in restoring, not just consuming; and, above all, in supporting the world around us.”
Thus, for this year, YSL Beauté and Re: Wild will focus on the following areas, the main areas to restore and whose ingredients are drawn from the following territories:
1. OURIKA VALLEY, MOROCCO
The brand has already planted over 125,000 trees in this region, which hosts more than 200 plant species. Another noteworthy aspect is that the project enhances assistance to local women to achieve better financial status.
What is cultivated?
The brand cultivates and extracts pomegranate, marshmallow, iris, jasmine, walnut, and saffron from this region, which is essential in YSL Beauté’s sustainability strategy.
YSL and Re: Wild “Rewild Our Earth” project in the Morocco area
2. HAITI
Haiti has experienced an ecological crisis intensified in recent years due to floods and landslides. Primary forest, crucial for combating climate change, has drastically reduced from 60% in the 1920s to less than 1% today. However, Haiti boasts significant biodiversity, but without proper forest support to stabilize the land, downstream populations are at risk of flood and land movement damage. And thus, creating a disastrous cycle of poverty and deforestation. The project’s priority is to regenerate Bois Pangol, as well as the essential habitats and biodiversity it hosts.
What is cultivated?
It is also an important territory as it is where vetiver, an ingredient used in YSL’s L’Homme and La Nuit de l’Homme, as well as the famous and historic fragrance OPIUM, is cultivated.
YSL and Re: Wild “Rewild Our Earth” project in the Haiti area
3. MADAGASCAR
Madagascar is the world’s largest oceanic island and an area of special interest for biodiversity. But deforestation progress has compromised the remaining forest mass. It serves as a link between two regions containing essential biodiversity areas: Analamanga and Alaotra Mangoro. These are protected areas hosting an important corridor of primary forests, 558 plant species, and many fauna species. The main goal of the program in this territory is to reforest the area with 400,000 trees by 2023.
What is cultivated?
Furthermore, vanilla and geranium are cultivated in this area, ingredients used in YSL Beauté’s fragrances Black Opium, Libre, Le Vestiare des Parfums, and Y.
YSL and Re: Wild’s “Rewild Our Earth” project in the Madagascar area
4. INDONESIA
Indonesia, also known as “the freshwater Galapagos,” is home to some of the world’s most significant flora and fauna sets. However, in recent years, the threat level to these ecosystems has increased dramatically due to excessive development in the area. Its famous lakes are surrounded by mostly wild forests, which act as freshwater basins and help regulate the local climate.
This latter aspect is essential for safeguarding wildlife, flora, and the territory’s climate. The program’s goal in this area is to reduce the impact of invasive species on the lakes’ endemics, helping to restore over 16,000 hectares of Lake Matano and protect and recover 30,000 hectares of forest mass.
What is cultivated?
Patchouli is obtained here, and used in fragrances such as Mon Paris, Black Opium, or Le Vestiare des Parfums.
YSL and Re: Wild’s “Rewild Our Earth” project in the Indonesia area
“Change the Rules, Change the Future” – That’s the motto YSL Beauté and Re: Wild leaves us with. An ambitious, future-oriented, and professional project, but also an ode to nature and biodiversity. To the essentials in our lives, the connectivity we all living beings share. And if we don’t take care of it, it will have serious consequences for everyone.
