How watch companies are helping to save the planet – Jaeger – Lecoultre
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Carol Besler
Journalist
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The perils of climate change and poor environmental policies are well documented. There are a number of ways we can help save our planet, and watch companies are getting involved in the solutions. This is the second in a series of articles that explores that involvement.
Jaeger-LeCoultre helps preserve glaciers in Alaska
Since 2008, Jaeger-LeCoultre has committed funds to UNESCO to protect the 47 marine sites appearing on the UNESCO World Heritage list. Part of that support involves raising awareness, including the production of a short film on Glacier Bay National Park. Glacier Bay, located in Alaska near the Canadian border, was declared an American national monument in 1925 due to the unique opportunity it affords of studying the succession of glacial periods. Its 3.3-million acres shelter some of the last glaciers on our planet as well as some spectacular forests, and is home to not only wolves, bears and caribou but mammals such as porpoises, seals, sea lions, several species of whales and the famous sea otter, whose precious fur almost caused its extinction several centuries ago. It is a refuge for at-risk species such as the humpback whale and the sea lion.
One of the programs at Glacier Bay involves preventing cruise boats in the area from colliding with an injuring the whales, which come to feed in the zone during their migration. Each boat entering the area is required to have a marine mammal biologist on board who can detect the whales using special binoculars. When a whale is spotted, the caption must adjust the route and speed of the boat. Jaeger-LeCoultre has also contributed to the World Heritage Marine Program in Paris, as well as conservation projects in Brazil, the Philippines, Colombia, the U.S. and Costa Rica.
Jaeger LeCoultre has been truly instrumental in securing better protection of marine sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
Dr. Fanny Douvere
A direct support
“Jaeger LeCoultre has been truly instrumental in securing better protection of marine sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List,” says Dr. Fanny Douvere, head of the World Heritage Marine Program at UNESCO. “It has already helped make major changes in the conservation of these exceptional marine places. For example, it has helped ban dumping from capital dredging in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef – the largest coral reef system on the planet. Over the past years, Jaeger-LeCoultre has also directly supported marine World Heritage sites with the purchase of radars and boats that directly improve these sites’ capacity in tackling illegal fishing.” Douvere is credited with building a network of World Heritage marine site managers across 47 sites in 35 countries. She is the driving force behind the first comprehensive study to protect World Heritage sites in the open oceans. These areas, also called the “high seas” cover more than 50% of the planet and are currently not protected at all.
Closer to home, Jaeger-LeCoultre has respected the unique landscape of the Vallée de Joux. Its manufacture meets the criteria for low energy consumption, and it produces renewable energy from the water of the lakes and rivers in the region. Jaeger-LeCoultre built one of the region’s first waste water treatment plants. The company also has a bus service that takes employees to work and back, as well as strong incentives for carpooling.
