En Avril 2017, Marilou Bio et la « Island Conservation Society (ICS), Fondation pour la protection des iles en français, ont entamé un partenariat de 2 ans afin d’améliorer la protection des tortues marines aux Seychelles.

Cette belle histoire commença par la visite de Mr Benjamin Aïach, le président de Marilou Bio, au Centre pour la Conservation de ICS situé sur l’ile Silhouette aux Seychelles. Apres avoir discuté longuement avec les rangers travaillant sur l’ile, Mr Aïach a été impressionné par le travail qu’ICS accomplissait pour assurer le suivi et la protection des tortues marines vivant dans le parc marin entourant l’ile de Silhouette. Désireux de se joindre à l’aventure, Mr Aïach proposa donc d’aider ICS via un partenariat avec sa marque, Marilou Bio, qui fut finalisé quelques mois plus tard.

Marilou Bio est une nouvelle marque de cosmétique bio créée par la société AB Cosmetic. Son but est de démocratiser les produits bios, souvent perçus comme trop chers ou réservés à une élite, et de les rendre accessibles à tous. Tous leurs produits ont été certifiés par le label ECOCERT et Marilou Bio adhère à la charte COSMEBIO. Cela se traduit par des produits dont la majorité des ingrédients végétaux de la formule sont issus de l’agriculture biologique et avec des emballages biodégradables ou recyclables.

La donation offerte par Marilou Bio aidera à préserver les tortues marines et l’environnement marin entourant l’ile Silhouette en permettant aux rangers de les protéger plus efficacement et de suivre leurs mouvements via l’utilisation de tags spéciaux en titane.

La Fondation pour la protection des Iles est ravie par ce nouveau partenariat et espère que cette collaboration entre une ONG et le secteur privé servira comme exemple pour le futur et permettra de sensibiliser le public à l’importance de la préservation de la nature dans le monde entier.

In April 2017, Marilou Bio and the Island Conservation Society (ICS) embarked upon a 2 years partnership to improve the sea turtle protection in Seychelles.

The story began with the visit of Mr Benjamin Aïach, General Manager of Marilou Bio to the ICS Conservation Centre on Silhouette Island. While discussing with rangers their conservation work on the island, Mr Aïach was particularly impressed by the dedication of ICS staff in monitoring and protecting sea turtles living in the Marine Park around Silhouette Island. Keen to join this adventure, Mr Aïach proposed to help ICS by initiating a partnership with his new brand, Marilou Bio. This was finalized a few months later.

Marilou Bio is a new brand of bio-cosmetics created by the company AB Cosmetic. Its goal is to promote bio-cosmetics and make them accessible to everyone. Their products are certified with the label “Ecocert” which means that the vast majority of vegetable ingredients come from biological agriculture and the packaging is biodegradable or recyclable.

The contribution offered by Marilou Bio will help preserving sea turtles by allowing the conservation rangers to protect them more efficiently and follow their movements using special titanium tags.
The Island Conservation Society is delighted with this new partnership and hopes that collaboration between an NGO and the private sector will serve as a model on how to fund increased awareness about the critical importance of preserving nature all over the world.
 

by Teesha Baboorun - ICS CEPF Project Leader (cepf@ics.sc) 

The first days of March 2017 were very fruitful and very exciting ones for the Silhouette ICS team. Accompanied by Dr. Bruno Senterre, Francois and Teesha conducted the first biodiversity survey mission under the CEPF grant in the unique forest of Silhouette.
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On the first day Dr Bruno Senterre, a well-known botanist, helped the ICS Silhouette team to plan the expedition and brief the team on the work to be done: to improve the distribution data of Key Biodiversity species on Silhouette Island.

We set off the second day early morning to the trail of Anse Mondon. For the second part of the exploration, we followed the Rivière Machabée to reach Mare Aux Cochons, the only high altitude wetland on Silhouette. On our way we got the chance to identify various rare species like Polyscias sechellarum var. sechellarum (Bois papaye) or Nepenthes pervillei (Pitcher plant) and took samples for the Silhouette Herbarium. We spent the night in a swamp forest on the slopes of the highest peak of the island: Mont Dauban.

During the night, we heard the calls of different species of Sooglossid frogs all around our camp site, namely the Sooglossus pipilodryas (found on Silhouette only); the Sooglossus gardineri, Sooglossus sechellensis  and Nesomantis thomasseti which can be found on Silhouette and Mahé. The Sooglossidae are tiny frogs: the smallest species (Sooglossus gardeneri) believed to be the tiniest frog in the world, measures just about 9-12 mm long.

The next day was the most fruitful, leading to the first sighting of Asplenium petiolulatum on Silhouette Island! This species of fern is very rare in Seychelles and is now known from 4 individuals only. We also got the chance to see different key species as the Trilepisium gymnandrum (Critically Endangered; known from less than 50 individuals) and Colea seychellarum (Endangered).
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Our next Biodiversity survey will take place in July 2017 and focus on the Mont Pot-à-Eau and Grand Congoman pristine forest.