
The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), adopted in December 2022, provides a fresh reference point for (re)examining the relevance of trade policy to the global biodiversity agenda and exploring how implementation of the new agenda could support both sustainable trade and sustainable development. In parallel, the increasing focus on environment and sustainable development in the context of trade, including at the WTO and as part of regional trade agreements, also presents an opportunity to discuss where trade policy could support delivery of the global biodiversity agenda.
Realising these opportunities requires developing a shared understanding between biodiversity and trade stakeholders of how different trade and trade-related policies and measures could be used so that they deliver benefits across all three agendas of biodiversity, sustainable trade, and sustainable development.
The “Nature-positive trade for sustainable development” webinar series aims to support such understanding through sharing of information and knowledge, and exchange of views and ideas between experts and institutions.
The series is a cooperation between key institutions working in the intersection of biodiversity, trade and sustainable development including the UKRI GCRF Trade, Development and the Environment Hub (TRADE Hub), UN Environment Programme (UNEP), World Trade Organisation (WTO), Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD), UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) BioTrade Initiative, and International Trade Centre (ITC).
The series builds on
UNEP policy paper “Nature-positive Trade for Sustainable Development” produced in collaboration with the Forum on Trade, Environment & the SDGS (TESS) published in March 2023, and runs in parallel with a series of regional consultations on nature-positive trade led by UNEP in cooperation with UNCTAD and ICT in 2023, both carried out as part of the Trade, Development and the Environment Hub (TRADE Hub) project. The series is also a continuum to the past webinars and related discussions on nature-positive trade organised by the participating organisations, including under the UNCTAD-ITC “Trade and Biodiversity Series” culminating to a CBD COP15 side event in Montreal in December 2022, and during the launch of the nature-positive trade policy paper at the WTO in 2023.
Past webinars
- Target 10, Sustainable management: agriculture and forestry.
- Targets 10 and 18, Sustainable management: fisheries and aquaculture.
- Targets 7 and 16: Circular economy: pollution and consumption.
Upcoming webinars: