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India has enacted the Biological
Diversity Act, 2002. The act was developed through an extensive and
intensive consultation process initiated in 1994. India is one of
the few countries to have enacted such legislation. The act provides
for conservation of biological diversity, sustainable use of its
components and fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising
out of the use of biological resources, knowledge and for matters
connected therewith or incidental thereto. It primarily aims at
giving effect to the provisions of the Convention on Biological
Diversity (CBD) suiting to India's national needs and circumstances.
At the national level, NBA has been established
by Government of India in October, 2003 at Chennai, Tamil Nadu under
the Section 8 of the Act for pursuing the implementation of the
Biological Diversity Act, 2002. NBA consists of a Chairperson, 10
Ex-officio and 5 Non official members and the functions of NBA are
as follows:-
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1. |
Advise the Government
of India on matters relating to conservation of
biodiversity, sustainable use of its components and
equitable sharing of benefits arising out of utilization
of biological resources. |
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2. |
Regulate activities
and issue guidelines for access to biological resources
and for fair and equitable benefit sharing in accordance
with the sections 3, 4 and 6 of the Biological Diversity
Act, 2002. Certain individuals/ nationals/ organizations
require prior approval of NBA for obtaining biological
resources and/or associated knowledge for use. |
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Certain
persons not to undertake biodiversity related
activities without approval of National
Biodiversity Authority (Section 3). |
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Results of
research not to be transferred to certain
persons without approval of National
Biodiversity Authority (Section 4). |
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Application
for IPR rights not to be made without approval
of National Biodiversity Authority (Section 6). |
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Application
for third party transfer of accessed biological
resources and traditional knowledge (Section
20). |
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3. |
Take necessary
measures to oppose the grant of intellectual property
rights in any country outside India on any biological
resource obtained from India or knowledge associated
with such biological resource derived from India. |
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4. |
Advise the State
Governments in the selection of areas of biodiversity
importance to be notified as heritage sites and suggest
measures for their management. |
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5. |
NBA and State
Biodiversity Boards provide guidance and technical
support to Biodiversity Management Committees (BMC) for
preparing People's Biodiversity Registers (PBR). |
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6. |
Perform such other
functions as may be necessary to carry out the
provisions of this Act. |
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