MCRV Mission

The National Biodiversity Future Center (NBFC) focuses on the Mediterranean region, considered a biodiversity hotspot, in order to address global challenges related to the following:

-Knowledge and protection of Italian biodiversity;
-Monitoring of different species, including rare, endangered and exotic pest species;
-Development of appropriate 'Restoration Ecology' strategies also with the aim of achieving the goals of the Nature Restoration Law;
-Enhancement of biodiversity through innovation actions that produce economic, environmental and social value.
Through targeted research and adoption of new technologies, NBFC provides intervention bodies and territorial administrations with the scientific basis for the establishment and management of protected areas, the design and implementation of efficient monitoring systems, the implementation of ecological restoration programs, and the enhancement of biodiversity to obtain new food, medical, cosmetics, and new materials. An entire sector of the center is dedicated to innovation, the involvement of national and international companies and institutions to support sustainable production processes, stimulate the creation of start-ups and expand green jobs. In this area, the center works with industrial supply chains by identifying process innovations and studying innovative biotechnological solutions that make it possible to promote circular productions, enhancing the value of raw materials and revitalizing strategic sectors for Italy such as the nursery sector, fishing, aquaculture and the production of bioactive compounds. The NBFC is therefore proposed as a national and international reference for generating knowledge and value from biodiversity and transferring them to the territory with the aim of implementing ecosystem services, promoting the well-being of people and generating social and environmental economic value for society.

Valorisation

The study of biodiversity at different levels and the growing availability of technology innovations will allow to identify new products, processes (bioprospecting - biotechnology) and solutions (Nature Based Solutions - NBSs) able to sustain and preserve the ecosystems, and to be inspired by biodiversity as a source of new drugs, nutraceuticals, food, and materials valuable in terms of efficacy and sustainability. The latter objective is therefore connected to the promotion of the economic, social, and environmental value of biodiversity, also adopting circular economy and restoration economy approaches in the ecological transition.

The mechanisms able to reduce the management costs of anthropogenic impacts on biodiversity will particularly be studied to also identify processes for the valorization of biological raw materials and residual biomasses with the aim of substituting high impact productions and identifying reliable decarbonization strategies and processes to obtain renewable materials, goods, and energy.

NBFC marine research activities concern discard and bycatch reduction and a more sustainable recreational fishery and also sustainable business model for marine biodiversity protection. Moreover, in the terrestrial context some of the activities focused on CO2 sequestration, carbon storage and urban reforestation. Such interventions will eventually have both direct and indirect effects on human health and wellbeing, including temperature and pollution decrease, risk reduction of multi-resistant pathogens outbreak and improvement of the touristic value of degraded areas and overall quality of the living environments, lifestyle, and food economy, through the improvement of ecosystems quality and health, increasing the ability to provide ecosystem goods and services. In this regard, NBFC is developing innovative biosensors for early detection of pollutants and algorithms to identify exposome factors predictive.