BIODIVERSITY ACT 2002
S.Jeevitha-17BLA1031.
The Biological Diversity Act, 2002 was born out of India’s
attempt to realize the objectives enshrined in the United
Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) 1992 which
recognizes the sovereign rights of states to use their own
Biological Resources.
Biodiversity: The biodiversity means the variability among
living organisms from all sources and the ecological
complexes of which they are part and includes diversity
within species or between species and of ecosystems
Biological Resources: The biological resources means
plants, animals and micro-organisms or parts thereof, their
genetic material and by-products (excluding value added
products) with actual or potential use or value, but does not
include human genetic material.
The Biological Diversity Act, 2002
The act was enacted in 2002, it aims at the conservation of
biological resources, managing its sustainable
use and enabling fair and equitable sharing benefits arising
out of the use and knowledge of biological resources with
the local communities.
Salient Features of the Act
The Act prohibits the following activities without the prior
approval from the National Biodiversity Authority:
o Any person or organisation (either based in India or not)
obtaining any biological resource occurring in India for
its research or commercial utilisation.
o The transfer of the results of any research relating to any
biological resources occurring in, or obtained from,
India.
o The claim of any intellectual property rights on any
invention based on the research made on the biological
resources obtained from India.
The act envisaged a three-tier structure to regulate the access
to biological resources:
o The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA)
o The State Biodiversity Boards (SBBs)
o The Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) (at
local level)
The Act provides these authorities with special funds and a
separate budget in order to carry out any research project
dealing with the biological natural resources of the country.
o It shall supervise any use of biological resources and the
sustainable use of them and shall take control over the
financial investments and their return and dispose of
those capitals as correct.
Under this act, the Central Government in consultation with
the NBA:
o Shall notify threatened species and prohibit or regulate
their collection, rehabilitation and conservation
o Designate institutions as repositories for different
categories of biological resources
The act stipulates all offences under it as cognizable and
non-bailable.
Any grievances related to the determination of benefit
sharing or order of the National Biodiversity Authority or a
State Biodiversity Board under this Act, shall be taken to
the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
National Biodiversity Authority
In order to carry out the provisions of the act, the National
Biodiversity Authority (NBA) had been set up under the
Ministry of Environments and Forest by the Government of
India in 2003. The NBA is a statutory, autonomous body
headquartered in Chennai. State Biodiversity Boards (SBB)
were also created in the 29 states along with Biological
management committees for each local body.
Under this act, the Central Government in consultation with the
NBA:
Shall notify threatened species and prohibit or regulate their
collection, rehabilitation, and conservation. Check out
the IUCN Red list to know more about endangered species.
Designate institutions as repositories for different
categories of biological resources
The functions of the National Biodiversity Authority are as
follows
Monitoring and prevention of actions prohibited under the
Act.
Providing advice to the government on how best
to conserve biodiversity in India.
Prepare a report on how the government can select
biological heritage sites.
Make concrete steps to prevent the grant of intellectual
property rights regarding locally used biological resources
or allied traditional knowledge.
Structure of the NBA
The National Biodiversity Authority consists of the following
members to be appointed by the central government, namely:
A Chairperson.
Three ex officio members, one representing the Ministry
dealing with Tribal Affairs and two representing the
Ministry dealing with Environment and Forests.
Seven ex-officio members to represent respectively the
Ministries of the Central Government dealing with:
Agricultural Research and Education
Biotechnology
Ocean Development
Agriculture and Cooperation
Indian Systems of Medicine and Homoeopathy
Science and Technology
Scientific and Industrial Research;
To know more about Intellectual Property Rights in India, visit
the linked article
Should any Foreign individuals or corporate body seek to obtain
knowledge or allied resources for the purpose of research,
survey, and commercial utilization, then they need to take
permission from the NBA. Indian citizens or corporates seeking
to the same need to take permission from their respective State
Biodiversity Boards.
The outcome of research that had utilized biological resources
from India cannot be given to a foreigner or a foreign company
without the consent of the NBA. But such approval is not
required for the publication of the research in a journal done by
institutions that affiliated with the Central Government or
approved by it.
State Biodiversity Boards (SBBs)
The SBBs are established by the State Governments in
accordance with Section 22 of the Act and deal with all matters
relating to access by Indians for commercial purposes.
Functions of SBBs
Advising the State Government on matters of biodiversity
and its equitable distribution or on matters relating to the
conservation, sustainable use or sharing equitable benefits.
Regulate granting of approvals or otherwise requests
for commercial utilization or bio-survey and bio-
utilization of any biological resource by people.
Structure of SSBs
The State Biodiversity Board consists of the following members:
A Chairperson
Not more than five ex officio members to represent the
concerned Departments of the State Government
Not more than five members from amongst experts in
matters relating to conservation of biological diversity,
sustainable use of biological resources and equitable
sharing of benefits arising out of the use of biological
resources.
All the members of the SBB are appointed by the
respective State Governments.
Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs)
According to Section 41 of the Act, every local body shall
constitute the BMC within its area for the purpose of promoting
conservation, sustainable use and documentation of biological
diversity including:
Preservation of habitats
Conservation of Landraces
Folk varieties and cultivars
Domesticated stocks And breeds of animals
Microorganisms And Chronicling Of Knowledge Relating
To Biological Diversity
Functions of BMC
To prepare the People’s Biodiversity Register in
consultation with the local people.
To provide education and awareness on Biodiversity
building
Eco‐restoration of the local biodiversity
Providing feedback to the SBB in the matter of IPR,
Traditional Knowledge and local Biodiversity issues,
wherever feasible and essential feedback to be provided to
the NBA.
Conservation of traditional varieties/breeds of
economically important plants/animals.
Management of Heritage Sites including Heritage Trees,
Animals/ Microorganisms, etc., and Sacred Groves and
Sacred Waterbodies. Check out the list of UNESCO world
heritage sites in India on the linked page.
Structure
A chairperson and not more than 6 persons nominated by
the local body.
Out of total members of a BMC, not less than one
third should be women and not less than 18% should
belong to the Scheduled Castes/ Scheduled Tribes.
The Chairperson of the BMC shall be elected from amongst
the members of the committee in a meeting to be chaired
by the Chairperson of the local body.
The chairperson of the local body shall have the casting
votes in case of a tie.
Conclusion
The Biological Diversity Act, 2002 is an Act enacted by the
Parliament of India for the preservation of biological diversity in
India, and provides mechanism for equitable sharing of benefits
arising out of the use of traditional biological resources and
knowledge.
