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Beauty brand aims to rewild 100K hectares

Words by Smiley Team

Upon discovering the botanical gardens of Morocco, Yves Saint Laurent fell in love with exotic plants and trees. This passion for nature seems to have rematerialised today with the designer’s beauty company, YSL Beauty joining a campaign to support nature and wildlife.

By 2030, the brand hopes to help rewild 100,000 hectares as part of a campaign led by the international organisation, Re:wild

Under the campaign banner of Rewild Our Earth, they will work with the organisation to protect and restore biodiversity in areas where YSL Beauty sources its ingredients. These include sites in Morocco, Madagascar, Haiti and Indonesia, where they harvest some of the key natural components of their cosmetics.

Fundamentally, the campaign’s approach involves supporting natural processes, repairing damaged ecosystems, and restoring degraded landscapes - in other words, it aims to encourage nature to take care of itself.

“For YSL Beauty, this platform marks a new era of sustainability that will define the beauty of the future,” said the brand. 

“Moving forward, the brand’s focus will be on continuing to harness innovation to unlock new possibilities––from how the brand makes its product, to the overarching impact it will have on the world.”

[Read more positive news about initiatives to encourage more responsible consumption and production]

Already they have taken some steps towards this goal. In Morocco, the company has planted over 125,000 trees and started restoring arid land. Such work is vital in an area that faces ecological threats from rising temperatures, deforestation, and natural disasters.

Meanwhile, Haiti struggles with deforestation-caused landslides and increasingly frequent flooding due to climate change. To combat this the brand says it aims to help protect the remaining forests of Bois Pangnol along with the habitats and species that live there.

Likewise, Indonesia is facing threats from deforestation, which the company hopes to help tackle.

As one of the world’s most vulnerable countries, Madagascar faces numerous ecologically and climate-related threats. To mitigate against environmental decline there, YSL Beauty aims to restore 400,000 trees by 2023.

While some companies are taking steps to undo ecological harm, the industry as a whole continues to pollute and destroy. Plastic packaging, toxic ingredients and greenhouse emissions from transport all add up, leaving a negative imprint from cosmetics production that necessitates urgent action more broadly.

Inspired to act?

GET INVOLVED: Add your voice to the growing movement to rewild the planet. Support Re:wild.

DONATE: To support environmentalists working to restore and protect nature, donate to Re:wild.

 

This article aligns with the following UN SDGs

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