50 years of green philanthropy

Conserving nature, better understanding our ecosystems, developing a harmonious relationship between humans and other living things … Fondation de France and many of its sheltered foundations have been actively addressing such environmental issues since the 1970s.

In 1969, the year that Fondation de France was born, the news broke like a clap of thunder: Lake Erie, part of the chain of five North American Great Lakes, was declared ecologically dead. But then, thanks to an unprecedented campaign, it was brought back to life and now, over 50 years later, it’s home to 140 fish species. Nevertheless, although it’s been revived, it’s still threatened, so in a referendum last year local residents decided to grant “personhood”, the legal status of a person, to “the Lake Erie Ecosystem”, making it possible to go to court on its behalf to defend its «rights». The Lake Erie story --a catastrophe,  sparking public outcry and debate, in turn leading to new regulations-- shows that an ecological disaster does not have to mean an ecological fatality. « Action can in fact be taken, and it must be taken quickly, on all fronts at the same time; that’s the conviction that structures and guides Fondation de France’s operations, says Dominique Lemaistre, director of Patronage. In the course of the past 50 years we’ve had a succession of programmes, whose strategies have been undergoing adaptations: from being focussed on conservation at the outset, they have gone on to progressively explore the entire realm of interactions between humans and the environment».

19 MILLION EUROS
That’s the amount of funding that Fondation de France and the foundations it hosts have committed to the field of the environment.  

Interlinked philanthropic efforts

At present, action is being taken in this field by 70 foundations that operate under the aegis of Fondation de France, as wells as by our environmental programme, which puts out calls for project proposals in four areas: coastal and sea management, sustainable food production, agro-forestry, and the ecological transition.   

 «When it comes to this topic, the operations of Fondation de France and those of the foundations working under its auspices are inextricably linked together. It was the bequest of Edouard and Genevieve Buffard, for example, that helped get our Environment programme up and running», comments Dominique Lemaistre. The commitment to protecting the environment goes back more than 45 years: as early as 1974, the Ars Cuttoli Foundation was funding research projects on the Antarctic ice cap aimed at a better understanding of climate change …a subject that is presently on the agenda of the BNP Paribas Foundation, which supports international research teams in the Arctic.

Backing research to optimise response and prevention

In the effort to move this cause forward, how can the generosity of donors and foundation philanthropists be channelled in ways that optimise its effectiveness? While there is now a consensus within the scientific community that climate change and the depletion of natural resources must be accepted as facts, the mechanisms at work and the measures to be taken in response are far from being known and agreed upon. To find the most accurate response to a problem it is first of all necessary to assess, analyse and understand it. The next step is to test solutions on a small scale, observe their results, and consider their deployment. That is the approach being taken in our calls for project proposals in coastal management, agro-forestry, and sustainable food production. «The work we are supporting draws researchers into close association with stakeholders on the ground: citizens, coastal residents, local bodies and groups, economic stakeholders … they are all involved, right alongside the scientists, in work that involves a diversity of disciplines, such as biology, geography, urban planning, social psychology, or even philosophy», says Thierry Gissinger, who is in charge of Fondation de France’s Environment programme. On coastal management alone, for example, 104 action-research projects have been funded since 2011.

In Palavas-les-Flots, in southern France, on the Mediterranean coast, fishermens and researches work together to optimise traditional, non-industrial fishing methods, in order to contribute to coastal conservation. 

Cancers, asthma, prenatal disorders?

At the core of the interactions between humans and their environment, there is also the question of health. That is the focus of the Public Heath and the Environment programme, initiated in 2012, which has put a million euros a year into exploring environmental risk factors for human health. «It’s an enormous field of research and it’s still relatively untouched, comments Fanny Herpin, who heads our Medical Research programme. The projects we are supporting seek to assess, for example, the impact of exposure to cleaning products on the respiratory health of babies in infant care centres, the link between agricultural activities and cancers in children, or the effects of air pollution on foetal development.... We select about ten projects each year, with one red line: the subjects must be truly strategic, they must be in areas where a better understanding of the mechanisms at work could clarify public policy for prevention. »

70 AFFILIATED FOUNDATIONS
taking action on environmental issues

All together, here and now

Although an understanding of the mechanisms of sustainable development must be attained through science, the ecological transition cannot be accomplished without the participation of civil society. That’s the basis of the call for project proposals from the Ecological Transition programme, which each year funds dozens of projects focussed on outreach to the general public. At the local level, the programme promotes projects that directly address the environment as well as social and economic integration, especially in responding to needs that the market economy does not meet.  

Since everything is interconnected, nowadays environmental issues feed into all the projects funded by Fondation de France. « Social justice and ecology come together in the framework of many of the projects supported by Habitat, notes the head of this programme, Patrice Cieutat. Some examples? The shared and supportive accommodation projects conceived on the basis of ecological models, projects for the re-appropriation of abandoned industrial wastelands, collective initiatives for minimising energy consumption, waste management projects, or even projects for shared gardens… » This transversal approach, cutting across various fields, is at the core of the programme called “Preuve par 7” (seven-fold test),  an initiative of  the architect Patrick Bouchain in which Fondation de France is a partner. Its method? Testing participatory and sustainable architecture projects at seven different levels of settings:  a village, a town, a city, a suburb, a regional metropolis, a disused public structure, and a French overseas territory. This is undertaken with the philosophy that a sustainable construction project should be measured not solely by its net effect on carbon emissions but rather on the basis of a broader balance sheet  --social, economic, cultural and urban-- that takes into account everything the project makes it possible to achieve.

On the Millevaches plateau, in the Limousin region of south-western France, residents have been trained in ecological construction.

Future generations

Taking action on different levels, from research to testing out new solutions, implies taking action with all the different generations, because «making changes in behaviour begins with education», stresses Axelle Davezac, the Executive Director of Fondation de France. In this respect, there can be no lecturing: education must above all involve wonderment, discover, and play. From the outset, that was the philosophy of Paul and Helene Jourde, the visionary creators of the Branféré Park, in Brittany, bequeathed to Fondation de France in 1988. Conceived as a veritable Garden of Eden, this botanical park, subsequently a zoological park as well, harbours more than 1,000 species within its protected habitat. Much more than a theme park, today it is a place for awakening and sensitising visitors to ecological issues. To that end, the Nicolas Hulot School, notably, organises stays at the park for young people from eight years of age, so that they can discover nature and come to understand the importance of protecting biodiversity.

Network thinking and action

All our research, all our different projects, have one element in common: innovation. Whether in laboratories or in the field, meeting the immense challenge of innovating involves stepping outside the box.  « But also sharing!, adds Thierry Gissinger. Creativity often comes from decompartmentalisation, from interactions between different disciplines, different actors. Workshops, colloquiums, participatory forums … in this regard, Fondation de France has expanded the opportunities for interchanges and for the dissemination of best practices. It’s another way in which we play our role as the leading philanthropic network.»

The annual agro-forestry conference makes it possible to share on-going research and facilitates collaboration among those operating on the ground.

Recently on the agenda: the “Îles 2019” conference on islands, held in Brest and the Ponant Islands together with the University of Western Brittany, from the 14th to the 19th of October. It included participatory workshops, project site visits, cultural and artistic meetings… The event encouraged scientists, stakeholders, and artists to exchange their visions of islands and their projects for them. « These microcosms are concentrations of all environmental, economic, and social issues … and they are testing grounds that are useful to all, notes Thierry Gissinger. Whether we be philanthropists, associations, deciders, elected officials, residents, or consumers, we all have a role to play in building a post-carbon world! »