RALLYING
FOR BIODIVERSITY

COMMITEMENT N°8

Find all our past actions

2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016

2021

Madagascar, a biodiversity hotspot

Madagascar is one of the world's top 10 biodiversity hotspots. The island, hosting over 250,000 species, including 70% which are endemic, is home to 294 species of birds and 247 species of amphibians. Its gigantic baobabs (7 species of which can be found on the island), its exceptional primates - such as lemurs - and its cultural heritage make Madagascar a land of rich, incomparable biodiversity, where extraordinary fauna and flora have flourished for thousands of years. Its tropical rainforests (in the east of the country) and dry forests (in the south and west) are home to exceptional ecosystems which have unfortunately been weakened by years of deforestation. This is why we need to preserve these areas and engage in a reforestation programme. Protecting biodiversity is vital in the fight against climate change. Ecosystems are major carbon sinks and enable living organisms to adapt to the impacts of climate change.

commitment-8-biodiversity

2020

An experimental apiary in Madagascar

In 15 years, 30% of bee colonies have disappeared. To avert catastrophe, CEPOVETT-EPSILON has launched an apicultural production scheme in Madagascar. The production site has 13 Malagasy hives and 11 modern hives, including two very sophisticated Australian models. This new model of hive has a transparent wall allowing us to check the level of honey in the hive without opening it. Pre-formed clear plastic cells, installed on frames fitted with taps, can be split in two for harvesting. When the bees have done their share of the work, we need only turn on a tap for the honey to flow. This new "FLOW-HIVE" method is gentler and less dangerous to the bees, while avoiding stressing or crushing them. With the 4 frames that the employees retrieved, they were able to fill 17 small pots with honey.
Beekeeping EPSILON Madagascar

2019

CEPOVETT joins the fight against Varroa

Varroa destructor, a parasitic bee mite, is an endemic disease that is invading our hives and decimating our bees. A current experimental solution consists in picking out bees resistant to Varroa, known as VSH bees, or, «Varroa Senstivie Hygienic». The idea of beekeeper Didier Brick and about forty volunteer beekeepers in Belgium is to breed VSH queen bees. Initiated in 2015 in the Benelux, this project has inspired CEPOVETT to carry out a genetic selection experiment on about ten VSH-carrying queens in spring 2019. This initiative underlines the company’s commitment to its fight towards safeguarding biodiversity and protecting bees.

2019 Results

    • Trials against varroa50%
    • Raising awareness of biodiversity among employees80%
    • 20 visits to our hives40%

2018

CEPOVETT Group "Bee Compatible" biodiversity programme

In July 2016, 40 years after its big sister, the Law for the Reconquest of Biodiversity, Nature and Landscapes, was finally adopted by the National Assembly. Providing a home for bees is one of CEPOVETT Group's major projects in the biodiversity field launched in 2013. The "Bee compatible" project is to install beehives on the company's various sites to raise awareness of the disappearance of this pollinating insect around the world.
In 2017, from the rooftops of Paris to Madagascar, corporate honey is still in the spotlight at CEPOVETT Group. Several visits to apiaries and honey tastings were organised at the various sites in Villefranche and Paris. An approach that is as original as it is environmental, which has won over the stakeholders. In 2018, a new initiative combines art and biodiversity, through urban beehives decorated by a collective of artists and personalised.

2018 Results

    • Development of FlowHives20%
    • Raising awareness of biodiversity among collaborators70%
    • 20 stakeholder visits to our hives100%

2017

2017 Report

In July 2016, 40 years after its big sister, the Law for the Reconquest of Biodiversity, Nature and Landscapes, was finally adopted by the National Assembly. Providing a home for bees is one of CEPOVETT Group's major projects in the biodiversity field launched in 2013. The "Bee'compatible" project is to install beehives on the company's various sites to raise awareness of the disappearance of this pollinating insect around the world. In 2016, the experiment was extended with the implementation of a traditional apiary in Madagascar, the company's production site. The island is one of the 10 "hot spots" of biological diversity, so CEPOVETT Group decided to make its contribution to the safeguarding of local biodiversity by installing beehives near its reforestation areas. Several types of hives have been tested in the experimental apiary combining tradition (Kenyan hive) and modernity (Flow Hive), an automatic hive with a tap that allows honey to be collected without opening the hive. All the company's sites actively involve their employees in this genuine sustainable development action in favour of biodiversity. Nearly fifty customers have already been able to visit the company's various beehives and taste CEPOVETT Group's honey, which is put into pots by the employees themselves. This is an original way of understanding and sharing the challenges of biodiversity with its stakeholders.

2017 Results

    • Madagascar apiary development100%
    • Harvest of 100 litres of company honey60%
    • 15 apiary visits and honey tasting by our stakeholders100%

2016

A biodiversity programme led by the collaborators

CEPOVETT Group has made the bee a lever for mobilising its employees in favour of biodiversity. Based on the observation that the pollinating insect is more at home in the city than in the countryside, CEPOVETT Group has installed several apiaries on its sites in France and abroad, including in Paris. The management of the apiary thus unites all the employees, from the general management to the staff, around a meaningful project that gives rise to a special moment each year during the honey harvest. The company honey is then packaged by the employees in jars bearing the company's image. In 2015, CEPOVETT Group invited its stakeholders to visit the apiaries in order to raise awareness of the importance of safeguarding bees for the preservation of biodiversity. These visits are convivial moments of exchange during which the employees can pass on their knowledge and have the product of their harvest tasted. A jar of honey is offered to each participant to symbolically transmit this commitment.

2016 Results

    • Experimental apiary in Madagascar and Saint Etienne60%
    • Honey harvesting by employees100%
    • 10 visits to our apiaries and tastings of our company honey by our stakeholders100%