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In 2019, Arnould Lefébure, oceanographer, founder of “GoodPlanet Belgium” with Yann Arthus Bertrand, switched from water to wine by taking over the family Domain in Burgandy. As an ardent defender of biodiversity and in search of Excellence, he decided from start to lead it organically and biodynamically.
As a marine biologist, Arnould traveled the world for his studies from the USA to China, South Korea and Japan to study aquaculture. He devoted a year to a charitable project in Bali where he was both a children’s tutor and worked with the great ceramicist Hester Tjebbes on what will become the famous “Bali Ceramic School” where unmarried and disabled mothers and excluded women become well-known artists.
Back in Europe, Arnould did his military duty in the Navy as an officer in the Marines Commandos where he learned efficiency in action and strengthened his team spirit. After a stint as an executive in industry, he coordinated with Sabine de Béthune, for the European Parliament, the “Gender Balance” project where he worked with Angela Merkel and Simone Weil. He developed an environmental and political network there. In 1994, the Quai d´Orsay asked him to interfere in negotiations related to the “International Agreements of the Scheldt and the Meuse” which one of the Parties, the Flemish Region, in extremis refused to sign. In January 1995, thanks to his network, these agreements were finally signed, and Arnould was then appointed Secretary General of the International Mass Commission and International Scheldt Commission, which he set up and led until August 2019. There, he built peace and understanding around a shared sustainable management of water resources between France, the Belgian regions, the Netherlands, Germany and Luxembourg. It also helped clean up of the Scheldt, a French river, flowing into Antwerp, the most polluted in Europe.
Arnould is passionate by sustainable development and biodiversity is his philosophy. In this context he met Yann Arthus Bertrand in 2007 and decided to create a “GoodPlanet Fund” in Belgium then an NGO “GoodPlanet Belgium” which became the reference in terms of youth education related to sustainable development. Every year the NGO impacts more than 500,000 youth, has nearly 80 employees and around a hundred projects throughout Belgium.
Arnould and Isabelle, art lovers, hosted several photographic exhibitions in Viviers. In particular in 2016 in Tonnerre and Viviers they organized a major retrospective of Yann Arthus Bertrand and welcomed also the well-known Belgian-Polish photographer Benoit Pabis, the Syrian composer Armand Amar and the movie maker Elise Darblay.
In 2019, Arnould decided to directly take over the family Domaine of Château de Viviers, previously operated for 35 years by Maison Albert Bichot. From start, the obvious thing was to convert the Domaine to organic and to implement biodynamic practices to preserve biodiversity and restore life to the soil, flora and fauna.