In a recent letter to Olivier Rousseau, CEO of SGD Pharma, French President Emmanuel Macron expressed keen interest in the company's efforts to protect mangroves in Zhanjiang.
Mangroves in Zhanjiang
In 2025, Frédéric Barbier, General Manager of SGD Pharma China and Asia Pacific, co-authored the English-language popular science book Zhanjiang Mangroves: A Forest of the Sea with Prof. Liao Baowen, former Chairman of the Zhanjiang Mangrove Wetland Conservation Foundation, and Fabien Pacory, Executive Vice President of the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China. The book was later forwarded to President Macron via SGD Pharma's headquarters in the hope of sharing the ecological value of Zhanjiang's "sea forest" with a wider global audience.
Representatives from the French Consulate General in Guangzhou and Chinese and French business communities visit the Jinshawan Mangrove Science Education Base for a tour and tree-planting activity. (Photo provided by the interviewee)
As early as 2022, SGD Pharma joined the Zhanjiang Mangrove Wetland Conservation Foundation and became the only foreign-owned enterprise on its board. In 2023, SGD Pharma launched the "Mangrove Together" initiative in partnership with the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China (CCIFC), with the goal of planting 100,000 mangroves by 2030. To date, more than 25 companies and institutions based in China have joined the initiative.
SGD Pharma Asia Pacific organizes mangrove planting activities every year in Zhanjiang. By May 2026, nearly 20,000 mangroves had been planted. According to estimates, over a carbon sequestration period of approximately 25 years, these mangroves can offset all carbon emissions from domestic business travel by the company's employees in China, as well as 50% of their emissions from international business travel .
From the coast of the South China Sea to the banks of the Seine, mangroves have built a new bridge for ecological civilization exchange between China and France. Ecology is becoming a distinctive calling card for Zhanjiang as the city steps onto the world stage.
Reporter: Chen Siliang
Photo: Wu Dongjun
Revised by Huang Qini
