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ABOUT BIOPHILIA

The BIOPHILIA Foundation is a grassroots, non-profit organization based in Argentina that contributes in shaping a sustainable model of rural development in different regions of the country, through a synergetic approach and a holistic vision. We work in empowering a diversified network of communities, small-scale food producers and farmers, with the mission to reinforce local economies, fostering a responsible management of the natural resources. In doing so, BIOPHILIA contributes to the conservation of biodiversity emphasizing the core values within each community´s cultural identity, history and traditions.

 

What WE DO

 

Rural Development

BIOPHILIA works to develop local economies, supporting small-scale rural producers and contributing to achieve high quality standards through a sustainable production policy. Our projects help each community to develop, positioning and commercializing its own portfolio of products, thanks to a series of strategic partnerships with high profile, ethical institutions, organizations and companies – on a local and global level.

Conservation of Biodiversity

While empowering the productive potential of each community, BIOPHILIA works to protect the environment and the natural landscape, with a special focus on the conservation and enhancement of biodiversity.

Cultural Identity

Our projects are conceived directly with the people we work with and are shaped to emphasize local values and traditions. While empowering the productive potential of each community, BIOPHILIA works to foster and preserve the cultural identity.

Food Sovereignty

BIOPHILIA’s projects are shaped to grant the Right to Food and Food Sovereignty to each community, with a special focus on Indigenous groups, as opposed to the logics and dynamics within mass consumption and distribution.

Family Farming

Family Farming is the predominant form of agriculture in the food production sector worldwide. BIOPHILIA works through its projects to enforce the basic conditions for a successful development of small-scale farming, combining local knowledge with innovative, fair agricultural practices, as well as facilitating a profitable access to the markets.

Fair Trade

Fair prices for both producers and consumers are the key to a sustainable, non-exploitative model of development. BIOPHILIA works to create a direct interaction between producers and consumers, including but not limited to the commercial sphere, decreasing the amount of intermediaries and bridging social gaps between different cultures.

 

What WE DON´T DO

At BIOPHILIA we don’t believe in the perverse mechanisms of social dependency, often fueled by unsustainable, palliative solutions that avoid addressing the core of the problems. In line with this vision, the BIOPHILIA Foundation does not provide any form of direct financial assistance to individuals, families or communities.

Download the complete BIOPHILIA Mission Statement (Spanish)

OUR PHILOSOPHY

The BIOPHILIA Foundation believes in fair trade and sustainable agricultural practices. We work to ensure food sovereignty and empowering family farming, developing our projects focusing on the relation between cultural identity and rural production. At BIOPHILIA we work to foster:

SOCIAL JUSTICE 

BIOPHILIA fosters social equity providing rural producers and indigenous communities with a set of tailor-made tools to empower sustainable development and consolidate social justice. Through our programs we reinforce human resources, promoting the culture of work as opposed to the toxic mechanisms of passive welfare and social dependency.

HUMAN RIGHTS

Equal rights for women, youth and indigenous groups are BIOPHILIA’s top priorities. We work to ensure access to healthy food and clean waters, exposing through our awareness campaigns a variety of social issues and inequities as well as unsustainable agricultural practices that cause human suffering and environmental degradation.

EDUCATION

Education is the primary tool that defines the essence of our actions. It’s the basic condition for social and individual independence, self-empowerment and collective growth. Education also means dignity and it’s essential to make conscious choices. In line with BIOPHILIA’s mission, we shape our projects focusing on individual and collective capacity building and providing the tools to raise education standards.

COMMITMENT TO QUALITY

The pursuit of excellence and a genuine commitment to quality are two essential values defining BIOPHILIA’s mindset. The natural instinct to improve who we are, what we do and how we live is the key within the evolution of humankind. We believe that quality means passion and self-respect, love for details and consideration for the others.

TRANSPARENCY & ACCOUNTABILITY

BIOPHILIA operates in complete transparency, promoting participation and accountability. In line with our ethical values and mission, the BIOPHILIA Foundation provides comprehensible and accessible information regarding projects, activities and funding. In doing so, BIOPHILIA contributes to fight corruption and clientelism on social and institutional level.

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biophilia foundation OUR PHILOSOPHY

OUR STRUCTURE

The BIOPHILIA headquarters are located in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The Foundation is ruled by its founding members, through the Executive Committee, which is the main governing body chaired by Marco Vernaschi, BIOPHILIA President and Founder. The Executive Committee shapes and coordinates the Foundation’s programs and initiatives with the Board of Specialists, a talented team of committed professionals that significantly contribute to the development and implementation of our projects, in synergy with BIOPHILIA’s strategic partners. The rural communities and farmers we work with are organized into BIOPHILIA Consortia, a network of locally directed clusters designed to effectively coordinate our projects.

 

Meet the EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE and the BOARD OF SPECIALISTS

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PROJECTS

BIOPHILIA’s Rural Development Projects are strategically organized into three productive sectors, FOOD, TEXTILE and COSMETICS, in order to grant multiple options for rural farmers and small-scale producers. This approach allows each community to consolidate a multilayered strategy of development and empowers a diversified, sustainable exploitation of the natural resources, resulting into a heterogeneous portfolio of products.

In line with BIOPHILIA’s vision and mission, we work to create synergies and alliances between established and developing rural farmers, connecting communities of different regions, so to foster the creation of innovative, crossed products. This strategy is crucial to reinforce rural farmers on a wider scale and to empower commercial exchange between otherwise isolated communities.

With the same purpose, BIOPHILIA works to grant direct market access for rural farmers, within the Principles of Fair Trade. In this perspective, we foster strategic alliances and partnerships with high profile, ethical institutions and companies on a national and international level.

BIOPHILIA also works to develop fresh opportunities of non-intrusive Eco Tourism to create new, solid economies, labour and employment opportunities, as well as additional ways to commercialize local products. BIOPHILIA´s Cultural Identity Projects are conceived and shaped as an essential complement to the Rural Development and Eco Tourism projects. This set of initiatives is especially designed to enhance, preserve and promote the great heritage of cultural diversity within different regions of Argentina and to increase added value.

 

  • ALL
  • CULTURAL IDENTITY
  • ECO TOURISM
  • RURAL DEVELOPMENT

CAMPAIGNS

The BIOPHILIA Foundation produces high quality awareness campaigns addressing a wide range of topics, including sustainability and health, rural development and cultural identity, environmental conservation and human rights. The contents of each campaign are developed with some of the world’s most distinguished media outlets and journalism institutions.

 

SEE OUR CAMPAIGNS

 

CAMPAIGNS

 

 

 

CONTACT