19° SIMPOSIO INTERNAZIONALE SU GESTIONE DEI RIFIUTI
RECUPERO DI RISORSE E DISCARICA SOSTENIBILE / 9-13 OTTOBRE 2023

Workshop: Rethinking Circular Economy in view of biodiversity regeneration

SESSION G06 / 11 October 2023 / 09:00 - 10:30
Workshop: Rethinking Circular Economy in view of biodiversity regeneration
Coordinated by: Maria Cristina Lavagnolo, Giovanni Felici (IT)

Organised by: NBFC (National Biodiversity Future Center), University of Padova*, Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies**
Received funding from Next-GenerationEU (Italian PNRR – M4 C2, Invest 1.4 – D.D. 1034 del 17/06/2022, CN00000033)


The loss of biodiversity is one of the most dramatic consequences of climate change and human impact. For several years, the importance of biodiversity for our planet has been underestimated, especially for its economic relevance on our extractive economies. Biodiversity provides several ecosystem services essential for human life such as food, materials, clean water, climate regulation, and many others. Therefore, a relationship of impact and/or dependency between biodiversity and economic activities exists. The circular economy, aiming to reduce the exploitation of non-renewable resources and the ever-increasing production of waste, can play a crucial role in reducing negative impacts on the environment and be one of the main drivers for the protection of biodiversity and ecosystems. The workshop will discuss the current practices for evaluating the impacts of business activities on biodiversity and/or ecosystem services and to explore the economic valuation methods for valuing ecosystem services in the framework of waste management.

Introductory lectures:

  • Maria Cristina Lavagnolo*, Valentina Cucino**, Andrea Piccaluga** (IT)
    Introduction to biodiversity and circular economy: the NBFC project

  • Duccio Tosi**, Sara Tessitore**, Francesco Testa** (IT)
    The systemic approach to explore the relationship between business and biodiversity: the role of regenerative business models

  • Niccolò Braico**, Lino Cinquini** (IT)
    Measuring companies’ impacts on and dependencies from biodiversity

  • Giovanni Felici*, Alberto Lanzavecchia* (IT)
    Economic valuation of ecosystem services: an example applied to the solid waste management system