What is the role of National Biodiversity Authority?

• The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) has released Rs 8.22 crore to three rice research institutions and 33 State Biodiversity Boards and Union Territory Biodiversity Councils.

• It marks one of the largest single access and benefit-sharing (ABS) disbursements for rice.

• The amount was received from Pioneer Overseas Corporation, an international seed company, for using Indian rice (Oryza sativa) varieties to develop and commercialize hybrids.

• Of the total amount, Rs 2.47 crore has been released to research institutions that conserved and shared the rice varieties with the company. 

• ICAR-Indian Institute of Rice Research, Hyderabad, has received the largest share of Rs 2.43 crore.

• An amount of Rs 5.75 crore has been released to 33 State Biodiversity Boards and Union Territory Biodiversity Councils based on the rice-growing area of each state and Union Territory, as listed in the Unified Portal for Agricultural Statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. 

• Uttar Pradesh has received the highest share of over Rs 73 lakh. 

• States and Union Territories with smaller rice-growing areas, such as Sikkim and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, have also received proportionate allocations.

• The NBA has so far received about Rs 83 crore in ABS payments from the agriculture and seed sector alone. Across all sectors, its total ABS disbursements have crossed Rs 162 crore.

National Biodiversity Authority

• The National Biodiversity Authority is a body established in accordance with the provisions of Section 8 of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, at Chennai with effect from October 1, 2003 under the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. 

• The Biological Diversity Act is being implemented through a three-tiered institutional structure — NBA at national level, State Biodiversity Boards at state level and Biodiversity Management Committees at local level.

• The NBA is an autonomous, statutory and regulatory organisation.

• It performs facilitative, regulatory and advisory functions for the government of India on issues of conservation, sustainable use of biological resources and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the use of biological resources.

• The NBA with its headquarters in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, delivers its mandate through a structure that comprises the Authority, Secretariat, SBBs, BMCs and expert committees.

• Since its establishment, NBA has supported the creation of SBBs in 29 states/UTs and facilitated the establishment of BMCs at the local level.

The main objectives of NBA are:

i) To regulate access to biological resources of the country to conserve and sustainable use of biological diversity.

ii) To secure sharing of benefits with the local people as conservers of biological resources and holders of knowledge and information relating to the use of biological resources.

iii) Conservation and development of areas of importance from the view point of biological diversity by declaring them as biological diversity heritage sites.

iv) Protection and rehabilitation of threatened species. 

v) Involving with institutions of state government in the broad scheme of implementation of the BD Act through constitution of committees.

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants.)