Le Lichen
Le Lichen was a Lyon-based non-profit association (loi 1901) that developed open-source facilitation methodologies for multi-species consultation, serving French territorial planners, consultancies, and civil society. Its methods were released under Creative Commons CC BY SA, and the organization formally dissolved in December 2025.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2021
- HeadquartersLyon, France
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingServices
What Le Lichen does
Le Lichen – Laboratoire des interdépendances concernant les humains et les non-humains was a non-profit association (association loi 1901, registered February 2022) founded in 2021 in Lyon, France, that developed and disseminated facilitation methodologies for multi-species consultation and territorial planning. The organization created a portfolio of in-person facilitation methods including 'Concertation avec les Vivants' (formerly 'Controverse Multi-spécifique'), 'Diagnostic du Vivant par Expression Spontanée', 'Représentation par la Chaise Vide', 'Constellation de Tous les Etres', 'Assemblée de la Forêt' (a 4-day immersive forest gathering), 'Vis ma vie de non humain', and 'Centrage et Connexion'. These methods combine eco-psychology, systemic practices, collective intelligence, sensory exploration, and symbolic practices (constellations, geobiology, sylvotherapy) to enable humans to connect with and represent non-human living beings in organizational and spatial planning decisions. All methods are released under Creative Commons CC BY SA license.
The organization's commercial activity was minimal: a Qualiopi-certified training program ('Formation à l'Animation de la Concertation avec les Vivants') delivered through partner Oxalis SCOP at €100-€500 per participant, the Revue Cyclique du Lichen (an annual publication at suggested €10 / free pricing), and a small amount of patronage and public subsidy. More than 80% of activities were voluntary. Target customers included French territorial authorities (communes, EPCI, départements, régions), consultancies and facilitators, environmental transformation actors, and civil society participants. Geographic reach covered multiple French regions (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Grand Est, Bretagne, Centre-Val de Loire) plus a presence in Belgium (Forum Co-Construire, Tournai).
Le Lichen announced its formal dissolution at a closing general assembly in December 2025, describing the closure as 'composting' rather than disappearance, with methods and spirit expected to continue through individual practitioners. The organization as a legal entity has ceased operations; key documented members include Maïté Cordelle (Gestalt-therapist, 8 Shields practitioner), Myriam Ouddou (collective intelligence facilitator), Serge Mang-Joubert (Centrale Lyon engineer-turned-sylvotherapy mediator), and Philippe (transition facilitator).
Le Lichen firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Le Lichen
- Legal name
- Le Lichen – Laboratoire des interdépendances concernant les humains et les non-humains
- Website
- https://le-lichen.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2021
- Operating status
- Closed
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Le Lichen was a Lyon-based non-profit association (loi 1901) that developed open-source facilitation methodologies for multi-species consultation, serving French territorial planners, consultancies, and civil society. Its methods were released under Creative Commons CC BY SA, and the organization formally dissolved in December 2025.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Le Lichen industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Participatory Facilitation and Ecological Transition Consulting
- NAICS
- Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services (5416), Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (54172), Environmental Consulting Services (54162)
- SIC
- Services-Management Consulting Services (8742), Services-Educational Services (8200)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Monitoring, Evaluation, Research & Learning (MERL) (BPADAEAB)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Professional Licensure & Certification Exam Prep (Bar/CPA/NCLEX/PMP, etc.) (EDAGADAD)
Keywords
Where Le Lichen is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Lyon
- HQ country
- France
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Le Lichen business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain
Revenue model
- Formation et prestations: Le Lichen offers training programs on their methods, with fees ranging from 100€ to 500€ per participant depending on funding arrangements. OPCO-funded training costs 500€ while conscious participation pricing has a floor of 100€.
- Contributions libres et conscientes: Voluntary contributions from participants and method users. The organization invites recipients of their open-source methods to contribute in return if the methods brought value to them.
- Mécénat: François Paret has financed the production of the Revue Cyclique du Lichen as a patron. The collective actively seeks additional patrons to support their activities.
- Subventions: Public funding support as part of their mixed economic model.
- Bénévolat: More than 80% of Le Lichen's activities are voluntary. Members contribute their time and skills without compensation.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Pay-as-you-go | Formation OPCO funded - 500€ per participant |
| Other | Pay-as-you-go | Formation hors OPCO - participation consciente avec plancher à 100€ |
| Freemium | Pay-as-you-go | Formation test - participation libre et consciente (plancher 20€) |
| Other | Pay-as-you-go | Revue Cyclique du Lichen - prix libre |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels6 records
Le Lichen product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Le Lichen develops and disseminates a portfolio of facilitation methodologies that enable human participants to represent and integrate non-human living perspectives into territorial, organizational, and collective decision-making. Offerings include the Concertation avec les Vivants method (multi-stakeholder dialogue), Diagnostic du Vivant, Représentation par la Chaise Vide, Constellation de Tous les Etres, plus experiential programs (Assemblée de la Forêt, Vis Ma Vie de Non Humain) and Qualiopi-certified professional training delivered through partner Oxalis SCOP, and the Revue Cyclique du Lichen publication.
Product overview
Le Lichen is a collective laboratory (association loi 1901) that develops and shares methods for organizing living spaces that integrate non-human perspectives. Their portfolio consists of facilitation methods (Concertation avec les Vivants, Diagnostic du Vivant, Représentation par la Chaise Vide, Centrage et Connexion, Constellation de Tous les Etres), experiential programs (Assemblée de la Forêt, Vis Ma Vie de Non Humain), a publication (Revue Cyclique du Lichen), and professional training services. The offering is a non-digital, practice-based methodology ecosystem designed for territorial planning, ecological transition facilitation, and multi-species governance exploration. No software product or platform is offered.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Revue Cyclique du Lichen: An annual (or near-annual) published booklet in A5 format documenting the collective's experiments and methods for living with non-human beings.
- Concertation avec les Vivants
- Diagnostic du vivant par l'expression spontanée
- Représentation par la chaise vide
- Centrage et connexion
- Assemblée de la forêt
- Vis ma vie de non humain
- Constellation de Tous les Etres
- AIÔN – faire tribu en conscience avec la forêt
Products and services
- Revue Cyclique du Lichen An annual (or near-annual) A5 booklet documenting Le Lichen's methods, experiments, and reflections on multi-species consultation and decision-making. Available for free download from the website or in physical copies via partner bookshops at a suggested price (~€10) under conscious/free pricing.
- Formation à l'Animation de la Concertation avec les Vivants Professional training program teaching participants to prepare, design, and co-facilitate the 'Concertation avec les Vivants' workshop method. Delivered through Oxalis SCOP with Qualiopi certification, with pricing of €500 for OPCO-funded participants or conscious participation with a €100 floor for non-OPCO participants.
- Atelier de Concertation avec les Vivants Facilitation service enabling representation and dialogue between human and non-human living interests around territorial, collective, or organizational issues. Helps negotiate and converge multiple interests sharing the same living space. (Formerly known as 'Controverse Multi-spécifique'.)
- Diagnostic du Vivant par Expression Spontanée Exploratory facilitation service exploring and translating the needs of living organisms associated with a territory through collective, sensitive, and brief expression. Used in territorial planning contexts to surface non-human stakeholder needs.
- Représentation par la Chaise Vide A simple representation tool for entities (living, legal, or composite) that are at a distance or lack audible voices in consultations, enabling them to be represented in deliberation processes.
- Centrage et Connexion A facilitation method enabling deep connection between participants and nearby living beings through sensory and emotional focus.
- Constellation de Tous les Etres A facilitation method combining systemic constellations with the Council of All Beings approach within an ecopsychology framework, enabling representation of multiple beings (human and non-human) in constellation-based group work.
- Assemblée de la Forêt A 4-day immersive forest gathering exploring how humans can organize society while accounting for perspectives of non-human forest inhabitants. Held annually since 2021 with approximately 40–50 participants.
- Vis ma Vie de Non Humain An experiential workshop enabling participants to connect with non-human species by embodying their behaviors, senses, and ways of being in their environment, based on perceived ethological characteristics.
Quantifiable outcome
- 200+ participants in a single Concertation avec les Vivants session (forum Co-Construire, July 2025)
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Le Lichen
Customer profileNamed customers5 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Le Lichen technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature7 records
Le Lichen partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
13 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Oxalis SCOPcoreOxalis SCOP is the Qualiopi-certified training organization that delivers Le Lichen's 'Formation à l'animation de la Concertation avec les Vivants' program. Training is potentially eligible for OPCO funding. Siret: 41082947700216, N° d'organisme de formation: 82 74 02722 74.
- Ecole Centrale LyonminorHost venue for multiple training sessions (May 2024, March 2025) of the 'Formation à la Concertation avec les Vivants' at their campus in Ecully, near Lyon.
- La Maison ComposercoreResearch and creation venue in Saints-en-Puisaye (89) that hosted Le Lichen's 'Résidence Méthodes' in March 2022, providing space for developing and testing multi-species consultation methods.
- Le 6B ( Lucie Storchan et Romain Vacher)coreThird-place venue at 6 Place Bellecour, Lyon that hosts Le Lichen's presentation evenings and Revue launches. Romain Vacher co-animates the Tipping Point podcast and is a collaborator on multi-species living exploration.
- Forum Co-ConstruireminorBelgi an forum focused on cooperation where Le Lichen members participated and animated multi-species consultation workshops (July 2025), reaching 200+ participants.
- Maison Culturelle de TournaiminorCultural venue in Tournai, Belgium that partnered with Le Lichen for a Concertation avec les Vivants session focused on redesigning their park with non-human perspectives.
- Act4TalentminorHost venue for early Le Lichen presentation evenings (June 2024) at Lyon Confluence location.
- OIDP (Observatoire International de Démocratie Participative)minorInternational participatory democracy observatory where Le Lichen conducted an exploratory workshop on multi-species consultation at their 21st conference in Grenoble (December 2022).
- Festival Entre Rhône et Saône (Ville de Lyon)minorLyon city festival where Le Lichen hosted 'Controverse Multispécifique #4' at Ile Barbe, an experimental interspecies negotiation workshop.
- At Aûm (Paris)minorDistribution point for the Revue Cyclique du Lichen at 140 rue de Belleville, Paris 20e.
- Librairie Le Bois d'Amarante (Chambéry)minorIndependent bookstore at 37 rue Jean Pierre Veyrat, Chambéry, distributing the Revue Cyclique du Lichen.
- Association Quartier RougeminorAssociation on the Plateau de Millevaches that invited Le Lichen to propose a multi-species consultation practice during a week-long seminar on pastoral coexistence (May 2022).
- ARIENA AlsaceminorOrganization that hosted two 'Concertation avec les Vivants' workshops for nature animators in Sélestat (January 2024) on the topic of human-other-than-human interaction with audiences.
Scale indicators6 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Le Lichen competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Transition Network: International movement supporting community-led responses to climate and ecological challenges, founded on permaculture and resilience principles. Comparable to Le Lichen in training and mobilizing local actors for transition, but at significantly larger international scale and without the multi-species consultation methodology.
- Roots & Shoots (Jane Goodall Institute): Global youth-led program founded by Jane Goodall empowering participants to identify problems in their communities and take action, with explicit attention to animals and the environment. Shares Le Lichen's philosophical commitment to non-human perspectives in decision-making but operates as a large international program rather than a methodological niche.
- Fondation Nicolas Hulot pour la Nature et l'Homme: Major French environmental foundation working on ecological transition advocacy, education, and field programs. Comparable to Le Lichen in advancing ecological awareness and engaging territorial actors, but at institutional scale focused on policy rather than facilitation methodology.
- Colibris: Large French ecological-transition movement founded in 2007 around Pierre Rabhi's work. Operates as a broader umbrella for transition projects and offers training, publications, and community events; overlaps with Le Lichen in mobilizing citizens around ecological transformation but lacks the specific multi-species methodology niche.
- Terre & Humanisme: France-based association promoting agroecology and ecological awareness through training, publications, and on-the-ground projects. Comparable to Le Lichen in blending ecological pedagogy with experiential learning, though primarily focused on agricultural and soil-related transitions rather than multi-species governance.
Direct peers
- Institut Momentum: France-based facilitation and training organization focused on ecological transition and collective intelligence. Comparable to Le Lichen in offering methods and formation programs for territories and organizations navigating environmental and societal transformation, though without the explicit multi-species consultation framework.
- The Work That Reconnects: International network founded by Joanna Macy that originated the 'Council of All Beings' practice, a direct methodological ancestor of Le Lichen's Constellation de Tous les Êtres. Shares the eco-psychology lineage and offers training/workshop formats for participants to engage with non-human perspectives.
- Résolis: France-based association conducting research and field projects on territorial resilience and ecological transition. Comparable to Le Lichen in producing applied research on territories and in supporting practitioners working at the intersection of social and environmental transitions.
Others
- Oxalis SCOP: Qualiopi-certified training cooperative that delivers Le Lichen's Formation à la Concertation avec les Vivants program. Functions as the formal training-infrastructure partner rather than a competitor; relevant as an ecosystem player that could carry the methods forward post-dissolution.
Emerging players
- La Fabrique Écologique: French think-and-do tank producing policy proposals on ecological transition. Adjacent to Le Lichen in addressing ecological transformation of territories and organizations, but operates primarily through policy advocacy rather than experiential facilitation methods.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Le Lichen social profiles
Digital presenceLe Lichen financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Le Lichen leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles4 records
Le Lichen funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Le Lichen M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Le Lichen
What does Le Lichen do?
Le Lichen develops and disseminates a portfolio of facilitation methodologies that enable human participants to represent and integrate non-human living perspectives into territorial, organizational, and collective decision-making. Offerings include the Concertation avec les Vivants method (multi-stakeholder dialogue), Diagnostic du Vivant, Représentation par la Chaise Vide, Constellation de Tous les Etres, plus experiential programs (Assemblée de la Forêt, Vis Ma Vie de Non Humain) and Qualiopi-certified professional training delivered through partner Oxalis SCOP, and the Revue Cyclique du Lichen publication.
Is Le Lichen a public or private company?
Le Lichen is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently closed.
When was Le Lichen founded?
Le Lichen was founded in 2021. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Le Lichen based?
Le Lichen is headquartered in Lyon, France, in the Europe region.
How does Le Lichen make money?
Five revenue lines are on record. Formation et prestations are the primary driver. The others are contributions libres et conscientes, Mécénat, subventions and Bénévolat.
Who are Le Lichen's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Transition Network, Roots & Shoots (Jane Goodall Institute), Fondation Nicolas Hulot pour la Nature et l'Homme, Colibris and Terre & Humanisme. Direct peers are Institut Momentum, The Work That Reconnects and Résolis. Oxalis SCOP is listed as an others. La Fabrique Écologique is listed as an emerging player.
Does Le Lichen have an API?
No public API is recorded for Le Lichen.
What industry is Le Lichen in?
Le Lichen's product category is Participatory Facilitation and Ecological Transition Consulting. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPADAEAB, Monitoring, Evaluation, Research & Learning (MERL), with a secondary code of EDAGADAD, Professional Licensure & Certification Exam Prep (Bar/CPA/NCLEX/PMP, etc.). Its NAICS code is 5416 and its SIC code is 8742.