Eymeric de Chaumont

During my engineering studies at the ESTP (Specialized School in Public Works) and in the course of my MS studies in Los Angeles, I became really interested in the management of rainwater and waterways.I accordingly acquired certain skills close to the concerns of Espaces.Besides, this nonprofit expands its environmental commitment by offering work to persons in serious difficulty: the social dimension is a salient part of its projects.

Accordingly, my initial motivation was intensified by a human commitment, a sort of quest for meaning.Even in the public service professions, work cannot supply all one's needs ... however, it can mobilize more resources than previously ascertained.This is why, when Espaces needed help in developing a new project in October 2009, I converted my volunteering dream into a concrete and effective engagement as a sponsor with the Foundation.Together, we then prepared the file to apply for a Foundation grant.

Generally speaking, it's their visionary approach to the reintegration of nature in the city.

Espaces militates and acts in favor of a "differentiated management" of open spaces without pesticides and for a reliance on plant engineering on waterways.In concrete terms, Espaces began its action in the Hauts-de-Seine district, where the banks of the Seine are extremely stony.Nothing but concrete wherever you looked!The nonprofit then took part in the development of the Ile Seguin - the former site of the Renault plants in Billancourt.Plant engineering works on the same desiderata as civil engineering, but it seeks plant-related answers.The issue is always to consolidate the banks, the slopes, but by "renaturalizing" them.Wooden piles are embedded, and are soon colonized by the typical flora of the riverbanks: reeds, weeping willows, etc.In this way, a biodiversity which had previously disappeared is reborn.Pollinating insects, birds, etc. return.

Since this experience, Espaces has continued to work for the development of biodiversity in an urban environment with interested local municipalities (in the Val de Seine in particular), as well as the "green web" of the railroad slopes of the Réseau Ferré de France (RFF) and SNCF railroads.It has created a promenade in the 16^th district of Paris on a portion of the former "inner belt" railroad of the capital: from a wasteland, it has recreated a haven of biodiversity.

I'm looking forward eagerly to expand the volunteering of expertise with Espaces.I'm convinced that by combining their skills and ours, we can provide innovative solutions for the development of these urban territories - waterway banks, railroad slopes, industrial wastelands - and also for rainwater management.