LUMEN Final Conference – October 2025

“You Need a Seed To Build a Table”

Ecosystem Approach and Rights of Nature, for a Resilient Territory and Community
Forlì, 10–11 October 2025

The final conference of the LUMEN project – Law of natUre and huMan Ecosystem approach, funded under the PRIN PNRR 2022 program, will be held in hybrid format on 10 and 11 October 2025 in Forlì. The event is organized by the project’s national coordinator, the research unit of Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna in collaboration with the University of Florence and the University of Trieste, partners of the project.

The conference aims to publicly present the interdisciplinary research paths developed within LUMEN, which is dedicated to building a transcultural eco-legal framework. The event’s title – “To Build a Table, You Need a Seed” – evokes the need to rethink the relationship between nature, law, and communities, from the perspective of ecological and social resilience grounded in the recognition of the rights of nature and the relational dimension of territories.

For more information, please write to Silvia Bagni, project coordinator. 

 📅 Provisional Programme

9:30 AM – Institutional greetings and opening remarks

Part I – The Energy at the Heart of Life

10:00 AM – Francesco Gonella (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice)

11:00 AM – Coffee break

11:30 AM – Margherita Venturi (University of Bologna) – “Not to Clear the Periodic Table”

1:00 PM – Lunch break

Part II – Voices from the World 

3:00 PM – Patricia Gualinga (Ecuador)

4:00 PM – Bineta Gueye (Senegal)

7:30 PM – Community dinner

October 11, 2025

Fabbrica delle Candele / Aula Magna, Istituto Ruffilli, Forlì - venue to be defined

9:00 AM – Ecological walk through the flood-affected areas (details coming soon)

10:00 AM – Collective presentation of project outcomes

With contributions from civil society organizations, research units, and community groups

Participants include:
– Serena Baldin – LUMEN Research Unit – University of Trieste
– Luca Cosentino – Wetlands
– Isabella D’Isola, Pasquale Viola – Federation for the Rights of Lake Garda
– Veronica Federico – LUMEN Research Unit – University of Florence
– Enrico Milazzo, Gabriella Patera – Climavore x Jameel at RCA
– Ruchi Shroff – Executive Director of Navdanya International
– Delegation from Idra – Rights of the Venetian Lagoon and Northern Italy river basins
– Silvia Bagni, Marc Brightman, Amilcare D’Andrea, Vanessa Grotti, Lea Querzola, Giorgia Pavani – LUMEN Research Unit – University of Bologna

1:00 PM – Community lunch