Most businesses depend on biodiversity, either directly or through their supply chains. Biodiversity provides critical resources on which businesses depend. In negatively impacting biodiversity, businesses risk losing these essential resources. Financial organisations investing in such businesses may also be exposed to risk if the businesses they invest in negatively impact biodiversity. As a result, it has become more and more important for the private sector to demonstrate strong and improved performance on biodiversity. In recent years, a sudden explosion of tools and approaches has emerged to help businesses measure their performance on biodiversity issues. However, these have developed independently and through a different mix of concerns, with no agreement or efforts to standardise these approaches. This has the potential to weaken their interest by companies, confused by a proliferation of initiatives. More importantly, these tools are being developed separately from government discussions on setting international targets for biodiversity, and it is not clear how they can be used to contribute to achieving these targets. This project addresses these issues by reviewing and comparing existing tools, how they are constructed, how they measure biodiversity performance, how and where they are being used by different businesses and how they contribute to achieving international targets for biodiversity. Through a literature review and interviews of tool developers, the project aims to shed light into how these tools can contribute to biodiversity conservation and where there is need for further research, and then communicate this into key UK and global policy discussions and frameworks. Key products of this project will include: (i) An academic publication comparing the components and characteristics of the tools and how they relate to global frameworks; (ii) A policy brief recommending policymakers ways to ensure these tools can help in meeting biodiversity targets; (iii) A short report and video showing in a map how these tools are being used over key "biodiversity hotspots" in this world, and (iv) a webinar to disseminate results to key stakeholders through ISEAL's Evidensia platform. These products will contribute to current efforts and discussions on how to improve tools and the way they are developed and implemented to achieve real change in biodiversity performance in the private sector.

Our GCRF TRADE Hub addresses a global challenge that has led to dramatic decline in biodiversity and ecosystem resilience in the past century, and if not addressed will significantly imperil the development of lower income nations. Trade in wildlife and agricultural commodities from low and middle income to higher income countries has increased rapidly over the last decades, and is projected to expand rapidly into the future to meet demands. Although trade is vital for national development, it also can carry heavy environmental and social costs, particularly for poor rural people in DAC countries, mainly because there is a great imbalance of power within the decision-making system and the most affected people are relatively powerless and voiceless in the decision-making process. The development of these trades over the past decades have has also resulted in considerable impacts on natural systems, threatening with extinction thousands of species globally. Addressing the issue of balancing the positives of ever-expanding trade with its costs is essential to addressing several of the SDGs, to protect and promote livelihoods within vulnerable communities in DAC countries, and is important for the UK in terms of negotiating sustainable trade deals that also meet other environmental and social development commitments. The Hub will work on a number of key trade flows that are particularly important to our focal developing countries and the UK, and where we have existing strengths that will allow us to have real impact in the lifetime of the Hub. This will include trade that has a direct impact on biodiversity - for example the global trade in wildlife for a range of uses, including the regional and national trade in wild meat. It will also include agricultural commodity trades that have indirect impacts on biodiversity through conversion or degradation of habitats. Its strong international and interdisciplinary research team, including economists, trade modellers, political scientists, ecologists and development scientists, will produce novel, impact-orientated research. Through involving companies, UN-related trade bodies and governments, the project will be embedded in the needs of the economy and development at large. We have ten work packages: During the project design phase WP0 will further elaborate a detailed theory of change and mapping exercise leading to the co-design of the research programme with critical stakeholders (private sector actors, trade organisations and NGOs). This will lead into the delivery of eight interlinked work packages: WP1: Understanding wildlife trade from DAC countries (live animals, skins, non-timber products, wildmeat) at the supply end; volumes and characteristics of local and export trade, and impacts on biodiversity and resource users; WP2: Understanding supply to demand-end agricultural commodity trade pathways, volumes and characteristics, within and exported from DAC countries; WP3: Determining the magnitude and spatial-temporal distribution of social benefits and costs for selected wildlife and commodity supply chains from the supply to demand ends; WP4: Understanding how trade and economic policies impact on wild-sourced and agricultural commodity trades and their impact on people and nature; WP5: Modelling the implementation of different scenarios of trade policy and corporate decision making; WP6: Developing solutions and building capacity through engagement with the private sector (large corporations and investors); WP7: Developing solutions and building capacity, through engaging with trade public sector rule-setting agencies and national policy makers; WP8: Outreach and Technology Solutions. We also have a cross-cutting WP9: building DAC partner capacity to ensure ongoing, sustainable research-led solutions to TRADE's intractable challenge. We involved DAC countries, corporations, investment bodies, and UN-linked trade agencies in the co-design of this Hub from the outset.