The committee members and staff of the ASL would like to pay a moving and grateful tribute to Jean-Bernard Lachavanne, a founding member of the ASL in 1980, President of the association from 1980 to 2022, and then Honorary President.
We will always have fond memories of an extraordinary personality who worked tirelessly and doggedly to protect Lake Geneva, and without whom the ASL would not be what it is today.
Jean-Bernard Lachavanne was a pioneer in aquatic ecology and the fight against pollution in Lake Geneva. As a young researcher, he became fascinated by the budding science of ecology, which enabled him to discover just how complex the Lake Geneva 'machine' really is. Dismayed by the appalling quality of its waters and the calamitous state of its banks and shoreline, he founded the ASL in 1980 with a few other people.
Determined and courageous, as an informed researcher and responsible citizen he never ceased to take action to combat pollution in Lake Geneva. Never short of new ideas, he created one of the ASL's first participatory science initiatives in 1990, and from the 2000s onwards he introduced the notion of sustainable development, both in scientific studies and at the ASL, to temper the sometimes over-dogmatic reasoning of pure environmental preservation.
His objectivity, intellectual rigour, boundless imagination and great generosity left a strong and lasting mark on our association. He remains an example to future generations.
Our deepest sympathy goes out to his wife Françoise and his family.
