Date: Wed, 19 Nov 1997 23:41:59 GMT Server: Apache/1.2.4 Last-Modified: Mon, 17 Nov 1997 15:45:11 GMT ETag: "2d201-2014-34706687" Content-Length: 8212 Accept-Ranges: bytes Connection: close Content-Type: text/html TOTAL: Environmental Focus
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Environmental Focus

Safety And The Environment

Protection of the environment, elimination of major risks and the safety of both personnel and equipment are among the key issues faced every day by any industrial group whose activities involve permanent interaction with the environment.

The main role of the TOTAL group is to provide the consumer with products which have now become indispensable to every day comfort and are an integral part of the routine gestures of daily living, such as driving home from work, cooking dinner and heating the home. But these products are also the final link in a long and complex industrial chain, starting with the extraction of primary energy and ending with the act of consumption. And everyone working along that chain is potentially at risk. Protecting the environment and ensuring safety on the work site have always been a high priority for TOTAL's operational teams in carrying out their everyday activities, in whatever field they may operate.

1992 was a watershed year for the Group here, with the drafting of a Charter setting out the principles and methods governing all aspects of ethical, organizational and management activities.

In addition to this Safety and Environmental Charter signed by the Chairman, concrete steps were taken in all three of these areas, with the setting up at Group level of an Environment Department with an Environment Committee bringing together skilled personnel from all different sectors of Group activity. At the same time, crisis management procedures were formally laid down, with the provision for Crisis Management Centers (CMCs) to be set up for each sector of activity. These centers can be activated immediately to handle all aspects of an accident including staff and families, surrounding population, local authorities, media and insurance.


The TOTAL Corporate Foundation

Mission

The Total Corporate Foundation is dedicated to the protection of biodiversity. It was founded by Total in 1992 and confirmed for a new term of 5 years in 1997.

The Total Foundation acts in two ways :

  • aid to safeguard biodiversity
  • information to grow public awareness of this global challenge
Current programs

In France :

  • In partnership with Port-Cros National Park and the National Mediterranean Botanic Conservation Center of Porquerolles, the Foundation pursues scientific studies and conservation projects that include :

    - collections on the island of Porquerolles to preserve vanishing varieties of fruit trees
    - heritage reserves of endemic plants
    - seed banks for threatened plant species native to the French Mediterranean area.

  • In cooperation with the Conservatoire du Littoral, the French agency for the protection of the coastland, the Foundation helps to manage the Etang de Berre (Berre Lagoon) and publishes maps of France's coastal regions illustrating their fauna and flora.

    Worldwide :

    The Foundation draws on the Porquerolles Conservation Center's expertise to provide aid in areas of the world where the natural environment is threatened and where the Group's existing structures can contribute most effective support.

    A few examples :

  • In Indonesia's rain forest - one of the richest reserves of biodiversity in the world - the Foundation supports ethnobotanic research involving the Dayak tribes. The objective is to study the different plants and herbs these forest dwellers use and to explore new nutritional and medical applications.

    The Foundation's other achievements in Indonesia include the publication and distribution of an elementary reader to help schoolchildren discover biodiversity while learning to read.

  • In Thailand, the Total Foundation works together with the Royal Chaipattana Foundation to rehabilitate the mangrove. This program combines "field work" involving the planting of young mangrove shoots as well as local information campaigns.

  • In Polynesia, with the Fondation Naturalia Polynesia, the Foundation helps to protect the coral reef ecosystem that offers the local population rich fishing grounds and the basic materials for their traditional tools and artwork.

  • In South Africa, the Foundation, Total South Africa and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) supported a program integrating young job-seekers in efforts to protect the local fauna by eliminating invasive plants. The Foundation also participates in the development of an ecotourism project.

    Employee projects

    Part of the Foundation's budget serves to finance projects proposed by Group employees.

    Some twenty employee projects have already been sponsored by the Foundation, including the planting of 500 trees to hold back encroaching dunes in Mauritania, an experimental project to grow fig trees in the Lower Alps (Alpes de Haute-Provence), and "nature islands" of trees and plants for a greenery-deprived part of London.

    Foundation publications

    As part of its mission, the Foundation paves the way for future generations by means of various free publications that are designed to grow awareness of the vital importance of environmental conservation and the sustainable use of natural resources.

  • Illustrated fold-outs that are distributed in large-scale information campaigns but that are all available from the Foundation on request.
    For the first one - "Diversity is life" - the Foundation printed 500,000 copies in French and 200,000 copies in English. In nine pictures and texts, this colourful fold-out explains how biodiversity began, how it became enriched and how it has been managed for 4 billion years.
    "Cultivons la diversité" (300,000 copies, in French) gives an overview of botanic diversity in its different forms, from genetic diversity to the diversity of the species and landscapes.

  • Maps of French coastal regions.
    The first two maps - Normandy and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur - have already been widely distributed in these two regions.
    Three more maps will be available by the end of 1997 : the Opal Coast (from Boulogne to Calais), Brittany, and the Atlantic Coast.

  • "Un jardin sur la terre", a book conceived and written by Jean-Luc Danneyrolles, with photos by the author and drawings as well as graphic design by Marie Poizat. This book (in French) presents the main Mediterranean plant families, and includes gardening tips and recipes.

    "Un jardin sur la terre" and all other Foundation publications can be obtained free from the Foundation on simple request.




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