UNCTAD says developing countries can capture more value from biodiversity trade

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UNCTAD on biodiversity trade

Highlights

UNCTAD reports biodiversity-based products accounted for 17.3% of global merchandise trade in 2024 with exports nearing $3.8 trillion, but developing countries captured only 35% of this value.
Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean, despite holding around two thirds of global biodiversity, only contributed 3% and 11% respectively to global exports of biodiversity-based products versus 49% for Europe.
African gum arabic was exported in 2024 at $2.28 per kg but imported at $6.50 per kg in high-income markets, highlighting value-add gaps and barriers such as tariffs up to 16.1% on natural alternatives.

Policy agenda before UN biodiversity conference

As reported by UN Trade and Development, its latest Global Trade Update examines how trade policy and investment can help developing countries close gaps in biodiversity-based trade while safeguarding biodiversity.

The report comes ahead of the 2026 UN Biodiversity Conference, scheduled for 19 to 30 October in Yerevan, Armenia. The meeting is set to review progress on the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and its goal of halting and reversing biodiversity loss by 2030.

UNCTAD says biodiversity-based products accounted for 17.3% of global merchandise trade in 2024, with exports of about 1,800 such products reaching nearly $3.8 trillion. Yet developing countries represented only about 35% of that total, even though many of them are home to the biological resources underpinning the trade.

The report argues that the main issue is not only expanding exports, but keeping more value in producing countries through processing, manufacturing, product development and circular use. It says that balance requires safeguards, legal access, fair and equitable benefit-sharing, stronger productive capacity, access to technology, regional and trade cooperation, sustainable trading practices and affordable finance.

Export gaps and barriers for producing economies

Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean, which together hold roughly two thirds of global biodiversity, account for just 3% and 11% of global exports of biodiversity-based products, respectively, compared with 49% for European economies. UNCTAD says this gap shows how countries rich in natural resources often remain excluded from the higher-value stages of global supply chains.

The report highlights gum arabic as one example of the lost value-add opportunity. In 2024, African economies exported the product to high-income markets at an average price of $2.28 per kilogram, while imports of the same product from those markets averaged $6.50 per kilogram.

UNCTAD also points to tariffs, complex regulations, unevenly shared sustainability compliance costs and limited access to finance as obstacles for producers and small businesses in developing countries. Natural alternatives to plastics, including cotton, jute, hemp and paper-based products, can face average import tariffs of up to 16.1%, which the report says are comparable to or higher than duties applied to many plastic products.

Analysis cited in the update finds that, in most sustainability standards reviewed, producers bear both implementation and certification costs with little backing from buyers or governments. UNCTAD says the upcoming conference offers a timely chance to turn these issues into concrete commitments that link trade more closely with biodiversity, sustainable development and inclusive growth.

Our earlier report on the EU push to curb PET plastic imports explained how several member states urged the European Commission to consider safeguard measures, potentially introducing country-specific quotas and higher tariffs on volumes above set limits. It also noted that, after earlier anti-dumping duties on Chinese PET resin, supply shifted toward exporters such as Turkey, Vietnam and Egypt, reflecting the EU’s broader use of trade-defence tools amid widening trade tensions.

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