RT null
T1 Trade and Environment Briefings: Export Restrictions - Policy Brief
A1 United Nations Environment Programme, 
A1 International Trade Centre, 
A1 International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development, 
K1 international trade
K1 export restriction
K1 green economy
K1 export restraint
K1 export
K1 Sustainable Development
K1 Trade
PB International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development
SN 1816-6970
YR 2012
FD 2012-06
LK https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/25947
UL https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/25947
NO This document analyzes governments’ use of export restrictions to manage access to natural resources and to pursue goals including food security, industrial development, environmental protection, and conservation. It describes instruments such as export duties, quotas, licensing, minimum export prices, dual pricing, and prohibitions, noting their strongest global effects when a few producers control supply. Reported benefits include stabilizing domestic prices, supporting downstream processing in sectors like timber, fisheries, and leather, and tempering environmentally damaging extraction, but these measures can amplify international price spikes and volatility. The brief highlights risks to food-deficit importers, frictions over minerals and rare earths, and weak WTO disciplines, illustrated by disputes concerning China.
DS UN Environment Document Repository
RD Sep 21, 2026