Abstract:Biodiversity constitutes a critical form of natural capital that underpins ecological stability, economic productivity, and long-term commercial sustainability. The World Economic Forum (2020) estimates that over US$44 trillion of global GDP is moderately or highly dependent on nature, underscoring the economic significance of biodiversity. In India, ecosystem services—including pollination, carbon sequestration, and non-timber forest products—generate substantial value for agriculture, forestry, trade, and rural livelihoods. Despite their economic importance, these services remain largely excluded from national accounting systems, corporate reporting, and measures of trade competitiveness.

    This paper develops a commerce-based multidisciplinary framework to examine the rights of trees and forests through the lenses of natural capital accounting, corporate governance (CSR and ESG), trade competitiveness, environmental law, and social justice. The study adopts a qualitative, policy-oriented research design based on secondary data drawn from constitutional provisions, biodiversity legislation, corporate disclosure frameworks, ecosystem valuation studies, and reports published by the World Bank, UNEP, IPBES, IUCN, WWF, and the Dasgupta Review.

    The analysis identifies three interrelated challenges in India's biodiversity governance: an implementation deficit, reflected in limited institutional and corporate enforcement despite progressive judicial interventions; an integration gap, arising from the inadequate incorporation of biodiversity into GDP estimation, CSR strategies, ESG reporting, and business decision-making; and an alignment gap, characterized by insufficient policy convergence with international biodiversity commitments, including the Sustainable Development Goals and the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (2022–2030).

     The paper recommends integrating biodiversity into Green GDP and natural capital accounting frameworks, strengthening biodiversity-linked CSR investments and ESG disclosure standards, promoting community-based forest commerce under the Forest Rights Act, 2006, and aligning trade and development policies with global biodiversity commitments. By positioning biodiversity as productive natural capital rather than merely an environmental or legal concern, the study demonstrates that conserving trees and forests is fundamental to economic resilience, commercial competitiveness, human well-being, and sustainable development. 

Keywords:Biodiversity governance; natural capital accounting; corporate social responsibility (CSR); environmental, social and governance (ESG); rights of nature; Green GDP; Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF 2022–2030); India.