NBA releases Rs 6.67 crore under ABS for biodiversity conservation and livelihood support in 11 cotton-growing States
National Biodiversity Authority reallocates Access and Benefit Sharing funds to cotton-growing States for biodiversity conservation and livelihood support under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002.
- The National Biodiversity Authority regulates access to India’s biological resources and implements benefit-sharing under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002.
- The Access and Benefit Sharing mechanism is designed to return value from the commercial use of biological resources to conservation and community welfare.
- Benefit-sharing was realised from research involving 25,431 cotton varieties accessed through traders and intermediaries, which made direct identification of individual conservers difficult.
- The National Biodiversity Authority has used published records and cotton-cultivation geography from the All India Coordinated Research Project on Cotton, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, to distribute funds among States.
What happened
The National Biodiversity Authority has released funds under the Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) mechanism for biodiversity conservation, sustainable use of biological resources, and livelihood support in cotton-growing States. The release is linked to benefit-sharing receipts from commercial research on cotton varieties.
According to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, the NBA has now taken total ABS funds released to a higher cumulative level, showing that benefit-sharing receipts are being routed into conservation and community welfare rather than remaining as a narrow royalty-like payment.
UPSC can frame questions on the Access and Benefit Sharing mechanism, the role of the National Biodiversity Authority and State Biodiversity Boards, and the link between genetic resources, conservation finance, and community livelihoods under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 and the Nagoya Protocol.
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