Biodiversity

Regeneration and biodiversity

Regenerative sustainability (also) involves biodiversity protection

Protecting and regenerating our planet's biodiversity through active leadership in promoting, defining and implementing good agricultural and sourcing practices, and promoting sustainable lifestyles. It is a challenge at the center of the Davines Group's attention, representing one of the four strategic areas, considering the environmental area, crucial to arrive at a business with a positive environmental and social impact.

The linear economy model – based on the take, use and discard paradigm – is no longer sustainable. In order to ensure the survival of our species, there is a need for a paradigm shift that reverses the course of the linear economy. The Group’s vision is circular and regenerative, striving to restore the environmental balance between humans and nature by giving back more than what we have already received.

The path to regeneration

2014

In 2014, Davines – the Group’s haircare division – started a partnership with Slow Food: each Essential Haircare product contains an active ingredient from an Italian Slow Food Presidium that safeguards biodiversity and supports family farms. These Presidia passionately cultivate small traditional crops, as is the case of the Brindisi Fiaschetto tomato or the Salina caper. In 2017, Davines helped create a new Slow Food Presidium for the Quercetana olive, a typical variety from the provinces of Lucca and Massa Carrara, Tuscany. To date, 12 ingredients from Slow Food Presidia are used in Davines Group formulas.

90% of the ingredients from natural origin. We address the issue of biodiversity from the roots.

The goals cover a wide range of aspects from using more sustainable ingredients to using highly biodegradable materials to restoring ecosystems by collecting plastic waste.

ingredients

from regenerative organic agriculture

>90%

ingredients

purchased and used in formulas will be of natural origin

>85%

ingredients

purchased and used in formulas will be with reduced bio-accumulation in the environment

Regenerative organic ingredients in our formulas

Amaranth, from the Aquilano farm Montaldodi Castro (VT), Italy

Sambuco, from the farm Maietti Bedonia, (PR), Italy

Myrtle, from the Vacca Senorbi farm, (CA), Italy

Prickly pear, from the Castriota Stasi farm, Lecce, Italy

Mallow, from the Campana farm Sermide and Felonica (MN), Italy

Red grapes, from the Cunial vineyard, Parma, Italy

Amaranth, from the Aquilano farm Montaldodi Castro (VT), Italy

Sambuco, from the farm Maietti Bedonia, (PR), Italy

Myrtle, from the Vacca Senorbi farm, (CA), Italy

Prickly pear, from the Castriota Stasi farm, Lecce, Italy

Mallow, from the Campana farm Sermide and Felonica (MN), Italy

Red grapes, from the Cunial vineyard, Parma, Italy

The Scientific Garden in Parma

This 3,000-square-meter garden flanks the buildings of the Davines Village in Parma. The Scientific Garden, a trove of biodiversity cultivated in accordance with the principles of organic farming, fully embodies the Davines philosophy, combining the two complementary forces that drive the Group: scientific training and a humanist vocation.

The design of the Scientific Garden evokes the encounter between science and humanism, drawing inspiration from the rural landscape surrounding the farm, typical of the Emilia region, while its layout echoes the 16th-century Giardino dei Semplici in Padua (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), the forerunner of all the world’s botanic gardens. The geometric garden, which features a circular design with a square carved inside, recalls the Vitruvian Man and is subdivided into sections devoted to various botanical species.

It is a place for inspiration and study, where researchers from the R&D department investigate the properties of plants, new essences and ingredients, which are the basis of the professional formulas created in Davines Grouplaboratories.

Scopri il nostro Village

Regenerative Organic Agriculture: EROC

The Davines Group and the Rodale Institute jointly manage the new European Regenerative Organic Center (EROC), a research and training hub that occupies a 17-hectare site at the Davines Group Village Campus in Parma, with 22 different plant species grown in the project’s 188 experimental plots. In 2023, 6 new plants were cultivated to research new ingredients for the Group’s formulas.

The main goal of this partnership is to carry out cutting-edge research, training and outreach activities to demonstrate the many beneficial effects of regenerative organic farming for numerous sectors. This work will significantly contribute to increasing the area of farmland managed according to regenerative agriculture standard, benefiting both farmers producing organic food, fiber and active ingredients and people’s health, as well as the well-being of the planet.

Discover EROC

Our projects supporting biodiversity

European Regenerative Organic Center

European Regenerative Organic Center – the first international Regenerative Organic Research and Education Center in Parma.

Regenerative Society Foundation

One of the founding members of The Regenerative Society Foundation, all engaged in promoting the transformation of the society towards a regenerative socio-economic model.

Quercetano olive

In 2017, the Quercetano Olive Presidium was established to promote a variety typical of an area that nestles between the provinces of Lucca and Massa Carrara.