Environmental sustainability and biodiversity management

Environmental sustainability and biodiversity management

Academic year 2020/2021

Sommario del corso

• Course objectives
• Program
• Notes
• Teaching tools

Course objectives

The "Environmental sustainability and biodiversity management" course aims to provide basic notions about biodiversity management in different fields ((microorganisms, plants and animals). During the lessons the ecological roles of important groups of organisms will be described together with the possible strategies for their conservation and valorization.

With this in mind, references will be made to the current regulatory framework that regulates the access, exchange and conservation of biological resources and their related metadata in different sectors for research and development (R&D).

Program

The course is organized in 4 module:

Module 1: Convention on Biodiversity and Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing of genetic resources (Prof.ssa Giovanna Cristina Varese – 4h)

• Introduction to the aims of the Convention on Biodiversity and the Nagoya Protocol
• The European Union Regulation (EU) No 511/2014 (EU ABS Regulation) and the duties for researchers, Universities and Private companies
• The tools to comply to these regulations: PIC, MAT, MTA

Module 2: Phytosanitary measures and regulations (Prof. Paolo Gonthier - 4h)

•  Plant pest categories
• The threats posed by alien pests to the economy and native biodiversity
• Pathways of pest introduction, establishment and spread
• Determinants of pest invasion
• Conventions, bodies and authorities responsible for plant health: IPPC, EPPO, NPPOs, European Commission, EU Member States, EFSA.
• New EU plant health rules: Regulation (EU) 2016-2031
• Overview on pest/commodity risk assessment
• Pest eradication and containment measures

Module 3: Viral Biodiversity and Ecological role of Viruses (Dott. Massimo Turina - 4h)

•  Viral Biodiversity: origin of viruses, viral classification, description of the main viral groups, taxonomy of viruses
• Ecological role of viruses in the oceans: description of the specific viral diversity; their role on biogeochemical cycles and predicted effects on climate
• Ecological role of viruses in the soil: methodological approaches, and preliminary results
• The viral component in holobionts: three case studies: humans, insects and plants
• Theoretical risk assessment for the use of viruses in biocontrol
• Regulatory framework for the use of virus infectious clones.

Module 4: Working with wild animals – nationals and international regulations (Prof.ssa Simona Bonelli, Prof. Sandro Bertolino - 4h)

• Definition of animal according to the law: differences among taxa
• The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
• The European Birds and Habitats Directives: working with protected species
• National legislation and regulation to work with homothermous fauna
• Working with not protected but endangered species (IUCN) guidelines
• Working with non-native fauna: the risk of invasions

Class schedule

Note

The course will be an intensive two days' course (8 hours/day), and will be held on:

Monday 14th June from 9:00 am
Tuesday 15th June from 9:00 am

• Teaching materials
• Exams and finals
• Go to Moodle
• Visit the forums