Mr Arnault has since broken every convention, both in French business and in the cosseted world of luxury goods.

ECONOMIST: The cashmere revolutionary

In January 2010, to launch the IYB, UNESCO organized a high-level event in Paris, launched the official IYB travelling exhibit with a wide range of partners in particular the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Global Environment Facility, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Airbus.

UNESCO: Indigenous Peoples

"It is both a decision by the French government and an obligation by all those countries that have signed the Unesco convention on the matter, " he said.

BBC: France returns smuggled Nok artefacts to Nigeria