By signing a new five-year partnership, LVMH and UNESCO expand their joint actions for biodiversity conservation

LVMH Group and UNESCO announce the renewal of their privileged partnership dedicated to biodiversity conservation and sustainable development.

This new agreement, entitled “For the Beauty of the Living”, strengthens and expands the cooperation first initiated in 2019 around UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme. Now extending beyond the scope of this programme, the partnership aims to intensify joint actions by mobilizing all of UNESCO’s education, science and cultural programmes, with the active support of LVMH. It also includes a new project conducted with the Tiffany & Co. Foundation, focused on the sustainable management of marine areas. 

“Preserving together the beauty of the living is the objective of this strengthened partnership. Within UNESCO-designated sites, we are developing with LVMH nature- and culture-based solutions, such as agroforestry or craftsmanship, for the benefit of local communities around the world,” said Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO. 

“Proud of the actions carried out locally under the first partnership with UNESCO, LVMH is pleased to formalize this new chapter. In connection with local stakeholders, such as breeders and farmers, the Group intends to continue its role as an integrator and facilitator in shaping this renewed relationship with living systems,” added Antoine Arnault, Image and Environment of LVMH. 

Three priorities for 2025–2029 

The “For the Beauty of the Living” partnership is structured around three major priorities: 

• Supporting sustainable economic models: supporting local initiatives designed according to community needs and territorial specificities, notably within the framework of actions already undertaken in the Amazon or in Africa. 
• Measuring environmental and social impacts: promoting sustainable and nature-positive practices by assessing their combined benefits (carbon, biodiversity, water, soil, know-how) and contributing to international work on the development of Nature Certificates, aiming in particular at providing additional income for local communities. 
• Strengthening skills and knowledge: promoting sustainable practices through agroforestry or regenerative agriculture, especially in professions connected to living systems, through education, research, and skills-based sponsorship, while valuing local know-how. The partnership will notably rely on UNESCO University Chairs and cooperation with the Learning Planet Institute. 

A first illustration with the Tiffany & Co. Foundation 

The renewal takes concrete form as of today with a symbolic commitment: the Tiffany & Co. Foundation joins UNESCO to support ocean sciences. Through the “Delivering a Healthy Ocean” initiative, the Foundation will support the development of sustainable management plans for marine areas in several regions of the world, mobilizing scientific and local knowledge, and strengthening international cooperation. 

This project will help establish a network of decision-makers and experts in at least ten countries and will promote the emergence of concrete solutions to protect marine ecosystems. It also aligns with the objectives of the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030), led by UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission. 

A new collaboration built on tangible results since 2019 

This new chapter extends a first phase of cooperation between LVMH and UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme, conducted over the past five years. It focused on eight biosphere reserves in the Amazon region – in Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador and Peru covering nearly 30 million hectares and home to 1.3 million people, including many Indigenous communities. 

In close collaboration with these communities, more than 80 initiatives directly benefiting over 1,000 families and young people have helped restore ecosystems and create sustainable sources of income. Among the main achievements: 

• Establishment of participatory governance in the eight biosphere reserves located in Bolivia (Pilón-Lajas, Beni), Ecuador (Yasuní, Sumaco, Podocarpus-El Condor), Brazil (Central Amazon) and Peru (Manu, Oxapampa-Ashaninka-Yanesha), including the involvement of local communities and youth networks in management committees. 
• Training and equipment for forest fire prevention: more than 200 people have been trained and equipped in Peru, Brazil, Ecuador and Bolivia. 
• Development of income-generating activities unrelated to deforestation, such as meliponiculture in Peru, with the support of 26 producers; creative mentoring, with the participation of Central Saint Martins, for the Tsimane women’s community in Bolivia producing jewelry from local and renewable resources; and cacao production through agroforestry practices in Ecuador and Peru. 

The direct and indirect support of local communities lies at the heart of the initiative. Thus, in Peru, nearly 28,000 people have indirectly benefited from the training of fire prevention and management brigades, the provision of equipment, and the construction of 100 km of firebreaks. In addition, almost 18,000 people have indirectly benefited from support for ecotourism and agroforestry, as well as for the production ofcocoa, coffee, crafts and honey, particularly in the central area of the Bioay (Oxapampa–Ashaninka–Yanesha) Reserve and the Manu Reserve. 

Several LVMH Maisons have made concrete contributions to this first phase: Guerlain launched, in collaboration with UNESCO, the Women for Bees initiative to train and support more than 120 women beekeepers in eight countries while helping to preserve these territories. Christian Dior Couture partnered with UNESCO to strengthen community initiatives for biodiversity conservation and restoration in Mexico’s Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve. 

The new global partnership “For the Beauty of the Living” is part of LVMH’s LIFE 360 environmental strategy and extends a collaboration already embodied by concrete, on-the-ground actions.