Where is the money for biodiversity?

Subject :Environment

Section: International convention

Context:

The Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill is now cleared by both Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha. The new Act, which has been named the Biological Diversity (Amendment) Act, 2023, will come into force after the Centre notifies it in the official gazette and new rules are prepared.

Details:

The new Act amends the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 (BDA).
The amendments have been made purportedly to ensure that the provision of United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity of 1992 and Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of the Benefits Arising from their Utilization of 2010 are met with.

Reduced scope of benefit sharing:

There are very few examples of benefit sharing on traditional knowledge and the contract on rooibos tea is a rare example.
The scope of benefit sharing has been reduced through the amendments.
For example, the amendments open up access to a large extent.
Exemptions have been set for codified traditional knowledge as prescribed in the first schedule of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940 which means that the industries using this knowledge do not have to share benefits.
Also, industry does not have to share benefits if the raw material is from cultivated sources.
The Amendments have decriminalized the offenses and made them punishable with a penalty which could range from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1 crore depending on the severeness of the violation.
The other sources could be the food industry and the cosmetic industry. Proprietary herbal drug industry could also be a source as could be the modern pharma industry.
The amendments suggest that ABS funds would be used for biodiversity conservation if exact beneficiaries are not identified but this amount is not likely to be much as few people would be sharing the benefits.

Biodiversity conservation and sustainable use already faces extreme shortage of funds:

The Union budget set out the total amount for Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems for the year 2023-2024 as Rs 47 crore.
This is lower than the Rs 58.50 crore provided for the purpose during 2022-2023.
The allocation to National Biodiversity Authority too has gone down from Rs 17.5 crore in 2022-2023 to Rs 16.40 crore for the year 2023-2024.

Shortage of funds for biodiversity is a global phenomenon.

In December 2022, when the world agreed upon the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) at the conference of parties (COP15) in Montreal, countries agreed to mobilise at least $200 billion per year for the purpose.
The finances to fund GBF are handled by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the recent GEF governing board meeting revealed that the total of only around $1.4 billion is available with the Facility and only around 50 per cent of this would be available for biodiversity.

About the Biodiversity Act 2002 and the new amendment:

Salient provisions	The Biological Diversity Act 2002	The Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill 2021
Access to biological resources and associated knowledge	Requires prior approval or intimation to the regulatory authority based on the origin of the entity	Amends the classification of entities, list of activities requiring intimation, and adds exemptions
Approval for Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)	Approval of NBA is required before applying for IPR involving biological resources obtained from India or sealing of the patent	Approval will be required before the grant of IPR instead of before the application itself
Benefit sharing	NBA is required to determine terms of benefit sharing while granting approvals for various activities	SBB will determine benefit sharing while granting approvals to domestic entities as per the regulations by NBA
Offences and Penalties	Offences include failing to take approval or providing prior intimation for various activities. These offences are punishable with imprisonment of up to five years/ a fine/ both	The Bill decriminalises the offences and makes offences punishable with a penalty between one lakh rupees and Rs 50 lakh

Changes made in the new amendment:

Access to biological resources and associated knowledge	The Biological Diversity Act, 2002	Changes made by the Bill
Approval required from NBA (for certain foreign entities)	Entities: foreign individuals, NRIs, companies not registered in India, and companies registered in India and having non-Indian participation in share capital or management	Entities: changes the last category to companies registered in India which are “foreign-controlled” companies as under the Companies Act, 2013
Prior intimation required to SBB (for certain domestic entities)	Activities: obtaining biological resources occurring in India for commercial utilisation	Activities: access to associated knowledge for commercial utilisation will also require prior intimation
	Exemptions: use by local people and communities including growers and cultivators of biodiversity	Exemptions: adds exemptions for codified traditional knowledge, cultivated medicinal plants and their products, AYUSH practitioners