National Biodiversity Act

Purpose: To protect India’s vast and rich biodiversity and associated traditional knowledge from exploitation, particularly by foreign entities, and to ensure fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from their use.

• The Act operationalizes India’s commitment to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD), signed at the Earth Summit, Rio de Janeiro (1992).

Key Objectives

• Conservation of Biological Diversity
• Sustainable Use of Biological Diversity
• Fair and Equitable Benefit Sharing (FEBS)

Key Provisions:

1. National Biodiversity Authority (NBA):

• Grants approvals for access by foreign individuals/entities.
• Ensures benefit-sharing and protection of traditional knowledge.

1. State Biodiversity Boards (SBBs):
   • Deal with matters related to access by Indian citizens or companies.
2. Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs):
   • Established at local body level for documenting local biodiversity through People’s Biodiversity Registers (PBRs).
3. Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) Regulations:
   • Legal framework to facilitate sharing of benefits between users and local knowledge holders.

Why in News?

The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) issued new rules called the Biological Diversity (Access and Benefit Sharing) Regulation, 2025. These rules aim to ensure fair sharing of benefits from the use of biological resources and related knowledge, including digital genetic information.

1. Special Provisions for High-Value Resources:

• Resources like red sanders, sandalwood, agarwood, and threatened species must share at least 5% of auction/sale value.
• In some commercial cases, benefit sharing can exceed 20%.

1. Global Context & Digital Sequence Information (DSI):

• DSI is now included, addressing a gap in the 2014 rules.

• At CBD COP16 (2024) in Cali, Colombia, a multilateral mechanism was adopted for global benefit sharing from DSI, involving sectors like pharma, cosmetics, agriculture, and biotech.

1. Turnover-Based Benefit Sharing
2. Researchers and those applying for IPR must comply with benefit sharing.
3. 10–15% of collected benefits will be retained by the NBA.

Exemptions:

• Users of cultivated medicinal plants are exempt.
• Products with both cultivated and wild plants may be exempt if approved by the MoEFCC in consultation with the Ministry of AYUSH.
• Exemptions follow the Biological Diversity (Amendment) Act, 2023, which encourages cultivation and eases rules for Indian traditional medicine practitioners.