Following the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit in 1992, a number of Total employees expressed the desire to see their company make a commitment to environmental protection. That same year saw the creation of the Total Corporate Foundation for Biodiversity and the Sea.

Themes of interest of the Foundation

In view of the Group’s particular business segment, which often involves the marine milieu, Total decided to focus the Foundation’s initiatives on two main themes, biodiversity and the sea, with the following objectives:

• to contribute to the protection of sensitive zones ;
• to enhance knowledge and understanding of ecosystems ;
• to participate in the rehabilitation of degraded zones ;
• to contribute funding for research programmes and initiatives ;
• to provide information and raise public awareness of the importance of biodiversity ;
• to promote an environmental culture within the Total Group.

The Foundation is organised around a Board of Directors made up of 12 members, including 7 from outside the Group, backed by a Project Evaluation Committee that meets 3 times a year.

The Foundation is allocated a specific budget by Total, amounting to €8 million for the period 2003-2007. This budget is devoted to projects managed directly by the Foundation as well as projects proposed by Total subsidiaries or individual Group employees. In all cases, projects are carried out in partnership with independent outside bodies with recognised competence in their particular field.

The Foundation works with numerous partners such as France’s Port-Cros National Park, the Coastal Protection Agency, the oceanographic institute Ifremer  (Institut Français de Recherches pour l’Exploitation de la Mer), the Marine Pollution Centre Cedre (Centre de Documentation de Recherche et d’Expérimentations sur les Pollutions Accidentelles des Eaux), the National Natural History Museum and the World Conservation Union (UICN).

Coral

Examples of the projects undertaken by the Foundation and its partners
Numerous initiatives involving research, protection or restoration are long-term efforts requiring ongoing commitment. Because of this, the Foundation usually backs environmental programmes over a period of 2-3 years, with in certain cases the possibility of extending its support.

Among the main thrusts of the research initiatives are coral-reef ecosystems, with the Foundation supporting a wide-ranging Coral Reef Biodiversity programme covering several different zones. The programme’s aims are to collect data, evaluate the economic and cultural value of biodiversity, study the role played by coral protected areas, enhance understanding of the bleaching phenomenon known as “white death” and improve monitoring of coral reef zones.

The Foundation (together with the Port-Cros National Park) also supports a research programme aimed at eradicating the Caulerpa taxifolia seaweed as well as an initiative (this time in partnership with the marine pollution centre Cedre) to develop techniques for detecting submerged hydrocarbons following an oil-spill.

Among the Foundation’s biodiversity preservation initiatives are a project aimed at protecting the dugong (a marine mammal) in the waters of the United Arab Emirates. The project involves setting up protected areas where the dugong, which is now endangered, can live in peace. In a similar vein, the Foundation is partnering Total Qatar and the Friends of the Environment in carrying out an inventory of all the insects in Qatar.

In France, as in all the other countries where the Group operates, the Foundation is involved in rehabilitation of biodiversity-rich sites. Among these initiatives are: the restoration of a series of small islands off the Brittany coast to make them more attractive nesting places for seabirds; the restoration of foreshore zones polluted following the “Erika” sinking; and restoration of the Hyères (southern France) salt pans as well as a coastal park in Essaouira (Morocco), where the lagoon complex provides an ideal habitat for various birds.

	Rehabilitation of the Essaouira park	Salt marshes, Hyères (southern France), © Port-Cros National Park

Last but not least, the Foundation’s information and awareness initiatives, aimed at both the general public and specialist audiences alike, include organization of a series of biodiversity seminars in Porquerolles (Var, France) and funding for the publication of educational games and documents as well as eco-maps of the French coastline.