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INDIA AND THE BIODIVERSITY ACT, 2002
Biodiversity
encompasses the variety of all life on earth. India is one of the
12-mega biodiversity countries of the world. With only 2.5% of the
land area, India already accounts for 7.8% of the recorded species
of the world. India is equally rich in traditional and indigenous
knowledge, both coded and informal.
India is a Party of the Convention on Biological Diversity (1992).
Recognizing the sovereign rights of States to use their own
biological resources, the Convention expects the Parties to
facilitate access to genetic resources by other Parties for
environmentally sound purposes subject top national legislation and
on mutually agreed upon terms (Article 3 and 15 of CBD). Article
8(j) of the Convention of Biological Diversity recognizes
contributions of local and indigenous communities to the
conservation and sustainable utilization of biological diversity
through traditional knowledge, practices and innovations and
provides for equitable sharing of benefits with such people arising
from the utilization of their knowledge, practices and innovations.
Biodiversity is a multi-disciplinary subject involving diverse
activities and actions. The stakeholders in biological diversity
include the Central Government, State Government, institutions of
local self-governmental organizations, industry, etc. One of the
major challenges before India lies in adopting an instrument, which
helps realise the objectives of equitable sharing of benefits
enshrined in the Convention on Biological Diversity.
After an extensive and intensive consultation process involving the
stakeholders, the Central Government has brought Biological
Diversity Act 2002, with the following salient features:- i. to
regulate access to biological resources of the country with the
purpose of securing equitable share in benefits arising out of the
use of biological resources; and associated knowledge relating to
biological resources; ii. to conserve and sustainable use biological
diversity; iii. to respect and protect knowledge of local
communities related to biodiversity; iv. to secure sharing of
benefits with local people as conservers of biological resources and
holders of knowledge and information relating to the use of
biological resources; v. conservation and development of areas of
important from the standpoint of biological diversity by declaring
them as biological diversity heritage sites; vi. protection and
rehabilitation for threatened species; vii. involvement of
institutions of state government in the broad scheme of the
implementation of the Biological Diversity Act through constitution
of committees. |
