Since 2010, Eau Thermale Avène has committed to making a positive contribution to the issues surrounding the preservation of the oceans. In 2013, the first step was taken: for sun care products, new formulas were developed to reduce their impact on the marine environment. In 2016, a second step was taken: we joined forces with Pur Projet, a company specialising in action in support of the climate, which was born under the impetus of Tristan Lecomte, founder of Alter Eco. Together, we launched the PUR Corail programme, a project to restore the marine ecosystem through the coral in Pejarakan, northwest of Bali.
© PUR Projet
Poets evoke the great waters, the deep, the waves...Scientists prefer to talk about the World Ocean. Or quite simply Ocean, giving it the capital letter it deserves. The territory, of which we’re usually only familiar with the coastal limits, makes up two-thirds of our planet and represents, at an average depth of 4000 meters, 99% of the planet’s habitable space.
It therefore houses and is the birthplace of most of the world’s living creatures, and regulates the essential elements of our climate balance. But the world’s lifeblood is now on the verge of suffocation (global warming, pollution, overexploitation of resources, etc.). The first victims, of course, are the species that live there, including coral. Found throughout the world’s seas and at all depths (up to seven kilometres deep), essential for countless single plant species, bacteria and fish, corals are extraordinary organisms that, when not attacked, live for a record-breaking long time. Some reefs have existed for thousands of years. But in the current state, three quarters are threatened by human activity. It is estimated that in three decades, almost 30% of the reefs have disappeared, at a rate of 1% per year.
© PUR Projet
Faced with this finding, Eau Thermale Avène joined forces with PUR Projet and its teams to launch a tropical coral restoration project, starting with the coral triangle in Indonesia. In the northwest of Bali in Pejarakan, the PUR Corail project comes to life, driven by the work carried out by the local community team Pokmasta, and orchestrated by the PUR Projet teams. A few years ago, these paradisiacal depths were in agony, due to the rise in temperatures, fishing with cyanide or dynamite, and the devastating climatic phenomenon El Niño. To repopulate the territory with its coral reef and its biodiversity, the teams have built an artificial reef.
Quite soon after starting the project, it became clear that a more comprehensive approach was required. To restore sustainable life to the environment, it was also necessary to act on soil erosion linked to land deforestation and plastic pollution. To achieve this, the community project expanded into planting mangroves and improving the environmental practices of local populations.
© PUR Projet
Members of the local community ensure that the mangroves are replanted to control erosion and stem the advance of the sea. Mangroves are an ecosystem made up of woody species, such as palms, capable of thriving in the tidal zone. Mangrove forests stabilise the coast and protect the environment, particularly after a hurricane or tropical storm. At the same time as the reef reconstruction project and the mangrove planting, and after having been a major environmental nuisance for a long time, plastic waste is now collected and soon recycled. Residents have been provided with sorting bins and awareness-raising measures are carried out to promote sorting practices and highlight the importance of waste management.
© PUR Projet
© PUR Projet
2016-2018
• 42 structures installed
• 4,700 corals replanted
• 16 different coral species
2019-2021 objectives
• More than 10,300 coral will be transplanted
• 6,000 mangrove trees
• 81 tonnes of plastic will be collected and recycled.
