An interview with:
Simona D'Amico, UEBT’s Biodiversity Expert
1. How long have you been working for UEBT and what made you want to work with this organisation?
I had my first assignment for UEBT in 2014. I assessed biodiversity threats as well as possible contributions of citrus farming in Italy to biodiversity. I was lucky because my studies on agro-biodiversity in the Netherlands and my knowledge on biodiversity in Southern Italy responded very well to the needs of UEBT at that time.
My full time job as UEBT’s biodiversity expert started in 2017. I was very enthusiastic about many things UEBT was working on and really wanted to be a part of the organisation. My main motivations were:
The spirit of collaboration and continuous improvement in UEBT's approaches, and that we work with companies.
The concreteness of UEBT's work and solutions offered to companies when dealing with biodiversity. That was the best way in my opinion to bring all the academic background that I had down to earth and make it relevant for practitioners. There is so much theoretical knowledge and traditional knowledge but so little interaction between the two. I thought the work at UEBT was perfect to make this bridge.
The nice people I work with every day and meet during field trips. Everyone is so knowledgeable and committed.
2. What is the role of the biodiversity expert?
My role is basically to help companies, farmers, and wild collectors on their work with biodiversity. We have an approach that we call the ‘Biodiversity Action Plan’ or BAP. Together with my team we support people in understanding how the BAP can be best implemented in their local context. We work with companies and their suppliers to understand how biodiversity is impacted in sourcing areas, by their own or other activities; what biodiversity can offer to their farming and wild collection activities; which farming and collection practices can benefit biodiversity and reduce any negative impacts on biodiversity. An important part of this is to monitor the impact of the practices that companies, farmers and wild collectors put in place. My team's role is also to support them to define key indicators and methods to carry out this monitoring.
At the end of the day, they are able to define practices that contribute to biodiversity regeneration, while still capturing the yields and income they need. They are also able to show the impact that their work is having on nature.
3. Promoting regenerative practices is one of the key aspirations of the UEBT strategic plan. Can you tell us what are regenerative practices according to UEBT?
Regenerative practices for biodiversity are ways in which cultivation and wild collection activities contribute to natural processes that take place in an ecosystem, such as carbon capture, climate regulation, water purification, food provision. UEBT standard contributes to this by promoting practices for biodiversity promotion (e.g. creation of in farm natural habitat), crop resilience and wild collected species regeneration, soil health (e.g. crop rotation, cover crop), water conditions (e.g. efficient irrigation, natural structures for water flow and retention), minimisation of use synthetic agrochemicals, waste management and reduction of emission.
4. What improvement have you seen over the years in companies that UEBT works with in terms of biodiversity?
I see increasing awareness and commitments as well as understanding of the issues to tackle, and how to use biodiversity for this.