French citizen, self-taught person

Mr. Frédéric Tardieu has been living in the Philippines since 2011, on Pangatalan Island, a very small islet in Palawan. After a career as a real estate developer, and a radical change of life, he wanted to prove that everything that man destroyed could be returned to nature.

He is the founder and president of Sulubaaï Environmental Foundation, Philippines & France. He is Director Delegate of SMILO (Small Island Organization) for Asia Pacific, member of the Ocean Platform Climate, and of the Palawan Knowledge Platform.

Sulubaaï is a Philippine non-profit organization dedicated to conserving, protecting, and restoring the natural resources of Palawan Island through environmentally sustainable practices and active ecosystems restoration with the local community. It is a private initiative funded by eco-tourism. Pangatalan Island was devastated during more than 20 years, and now has once again become a green lung of biodiversity. This ten-year work has been rewarded with the most beautiful international distinctions.
The 50 ha day and night protected marine area that surrounds Pangatalan has become a source of abundance.

The Sea Academy program has been operational since 2020, it consists of the creation of three new MPAs managed and revitalized with local communities, the objective is to become by 2025 the first bay in the world with 10 connected MPAs.

The island of Pangatalan is an ecological restoration center. After having innovated in a method of cutting corals, it invented an artificial support in order to restore the reefs exploded by  dynamite fishing. The Sea Academy informs and educates more than 800 children, collaborates with 3 universities of marine biology in the Philippines. It organizes scientific missions every year and invites prestigious boats such as TARA Expedition, Race for Water and Energy Observer.  Sulubaai now manages 4 MPAs, 750 ha fully protected and builds the first Ecological Restoration Center for costal biodiversity.