Twenty years ago, the BioTrade Initiative was launched as the UNCTAD response to implementing the 1992 Earth Summit’s Agenda 21, the blueprint for sustainable development action into the twenty-first century. The BioTrade Initiative aims at promoting the conservation and sustainable use of biological resources through international trade and investment. UNCTAD coined the term “BioTrade”, which has become recognized in efforts to promote sustainable development and poverty alleviation through trade and investment.

The BioTrade Initiative facilitates and supports national, regional and international BioTrade programmes, partnerships and businesses that have contributed to fighting biodiversity loss while ensuring the sustainable use of biological resources and ecosystems. Activities are implemented in close cooperation with the secretariats of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora on the development of regulatory and institutional frameworks to prevent illicit trade in natural species and to safeguard them.

The experiences, lessons and successes in the articles shared by BioTrade practitioners in this commemorative publication attest to the reach of BioTrade and the BioTrade Initiative. There are now ongoing BioTrade activities in over 20 countries. Efforts cover a range of products and services in a variety of biodiversity-based sectors.