Climate change and human use of nature’s surfaces has put the wild in decline.  In fact, 75% of all wild places have been degraded and more than one million species are at the brink of extinction, according to sources. Even more alarming, 50% of the remaining wild will disappear in the next decades if immediate action is not taken.

YSL Beauty isn’t sitting idly by. Since 2017 this luxury beauty has helped to slow and stop the decline through its Rewild Our Earth program. To date, Rewild Our Earth has protected and revitalized of 47,351 hectares of endangered ecosystems and supported local partners to plant more than 422,000 trees.

Today, YSL Beauty is expanding the program.

In partnership with Austin, TX-based conservation NGO Re:wild, YSL Beauty Is funding two new rewilding projects in Colombia and the Bahamas— critical areas for biodiversity that are among the most threatened natural zones in the world.

Colombia

In Colombia, the aim is to maintain 3,134 hectares and restore 435 new (3,519 hectares in total) of buffer areas within the Colombian Chiribiquete and La Paya National Parks in the heart of the Amazon. Tropical rainforests within the Amazon Basin are home to an array of endemic plants and wildlife. Efforts will include Development and implementation of territorial zoning plans.

The Bahamas

In the Bahamas, the goal is to protect and restore the habitat of the critically endangered White Cay Iguanas. With approximately just 150 species left, the White Cay Iguana is one of the most endangered lizards on the earth. Theis program will focus on protecting and restoring the White Cay wetlands by working with local communities. Learnings will be shared with other islands working to conserve related iguanas, too.

A lipstick maker helping save lizards may—on the surface—seem like an unlikely pairing. But when it comes to biodiversity, everything is connected.

“The health of our planet and our wellbeing depend on the wild; we are all connected to the natural world. Through this long-term collaboration with YSL Beauty, we will advance our efforts to protect and restore the Earth’s most irreplaceable areas for diversity,” said Penny Langhammer, executive VP of Re:wild.

“At the source of all YSL Beauty creations, there is nature. Alongside our own in-depth transformation process to reduce our impact on natural resources, it is essential to protect and restore the wild where biodiversity and ecosystems are at threat, in places, ecosystems that inspires us,” Caroline Negre, International Sustainability & Scientific Director at YSL Beauty, told Happi. 

YSL Beauty’s Rewild Our Earth program now consists of seven locations including existing spots the Atlas Mountains and the Ourika Valley of Morocco, Haiti, Madagascar, Indonesia and Canada. 

According to Negre, with the Bahamas and Colombia, YSL Beauty and Re:wild’s efforts now span from semi-desert to freshwater to forest to wetland.

To date, YSL Beauty has poured $1 million into these efforts, according to officials.

Sustainability Strategy

The efforts tie into YSL Beauty’s three-pillar sustainability strategy known as “Change the Rules, Change the Future.” In addition to Rewild Our Earth; the other pillars are: Reduce Our Impact and Abuse is Not Love.

So far, YSL Beauty’s Rewild Our Earth helped to protect and restore 47,000 hectares of land and water and plant more than 422,000 trees.

“We are almost halfway to our 2030 target to restore and protect 100,000 hectares of wild,” said Negre.

That’s a surface area almost 10 times the size of Paris. But YSL Beauty’s impact will stretch far beyond the City of Light.