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.
Background and earlier position
The Biological Diversity Act, 2002 created the legal framework for regulating access to biological resources and associated traditional knowledge. The NBA functions as the national regulator, while State Biodiversity Boards and Biodiversity Management Committees form the decentralised structure for conservation and local documentation.
The ABS idea is also aligned with the Nagoya Protocol, which promotes fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilisation of genetic resources. The current release shows how the principle is applied when biological resources move through traders and intermediaries and individual conservers cannot be directly identified.
Related current affairs
- NBA disburses ~Rs. 3.79 crore under Access and Benefit Sharing to 33 States/UTs and research entities
- NBA disburses ₹2.82 crore ABS funds to State/UT Biodiversity Boards and ICAR-IIHR
- Reclaiming Assam’s elephant habitat, one weed at a time
- Meghalaya launches mission to protect clouded leopards
- The Ecologically Sensitive Area debate highlights the need for balanced, inclusive conservation approaches (by Madhusudan Bandi)
- Western Ghats conservation with science and dialogue