Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill 2021

What’s in today’s article?

• Why in News?
• The Biological Diversity Act 2002 (About, salient features)
• The Biological Diversity Amendment Bill 2021 (Need, objectives, criticism, way ahead)

 

Why in News?

• The Rajya Sabha passed the Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill 2021 about a week after it was cleared by the Lok Sabha.
• The Act aims to conserve biodiversity, promote its sustainable use and equitable sharing of benefits that arise therein.

 

Biological Diversity Act 2002:

• About:
  • It provides for the preservation of biological diversity in India and provides a mechanism for equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the use of traditional biological resources and knowledge.
  • The Act was enacted to meet the obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), because India is a party to the convention.
• Salient features:
  • Defines ‘Biodiversity’ and ‘Biological Resource’:
    • Biodiversity is the variability among living organisms from all sources and includes diversity within species or between species and of eco-systems.
    • Biological resources are plants, animals and microorganisms, their genetic material and by-products (excludes value added products, human genetic material) with actual or potential use or value.
  • Provides for National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) and State Biodiversity Boards:
    • The NBA is a statutory autonomous body, under the Ministry of Environment Forests and Climate Change, established in 2003 to implement the provisions under the Act.
    • State Biodiversity Boards (SBB) have been created in 28 States along with 31,574 Biological management committees (BMCs for each local body) across India.
    • Under the Act of 2002, NBA and SBBs are required to consult the BMCs while taking any decision relating to the use of biological resources.
  • Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS): The provision of ABS of biological resources or associated knowledge is intended to compensate local communities fairly for the use of biological resources conserved by them.
  • Penalties: Any offence under this Act is non-bailable and is cognisable and a violator can be imprisoned for a term up to 5 years or fined up to 10 lakh rupees.

 

Biological Diversity Amendment Bill 2021:

• The need to amend the Act of 2002:
  • Concerns have been expressed by the Ayush medicine sector, seed sector, industry and research sectors.
  • They are urging the government to simplify, streamline and reduce the compliance burden in order to create a conducive environment for collaborative research and investments.
  • They are also demanding to streamline the patent application process.
  • Ayush companies have been requesting to broaden the scope of ABS and to relax its provisions.
• Objectives/salient features of the Bill: It seeks to -
  • Reduce the pressure on wild medicinal plants by encouraging the cultivation of medicinal plants.
  • Exempts Ayush practitioners from intimidating biodiversity boards for accessing biological resources or knowledge.
  • Bring more foreign investments in biological resources, research, patent and commercial utilisation, without compromising the national interest.
  • Facilitates fast-tracking of research, simplifies the patent application process, decriminalises certain offences.
  • Make violations of the law related to access to biological resources and benefit-sharing with communities as civil offences.
• Significance of the Bill: It will promote “ease of doing business” and the AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy) industry.
• Criticism of the bill:
  • The Bill exempts "codified traditional knowledge" and the AYUSH industry from benefit sharing, denying local communities’ benefits from accessing biological resources.
  • The term "codified traditional knowledge" lacks a clear definition, leading to potential exploitation.
  • The proposed amendments allow for SBBs to represent BMCs to determine terms of benefit sharing, further marginalising BMCs.
  • The proposed Bill comes at a time when the Act hasn’t even been implemented in full.
    • For example, there was no data available on money received from companies and traders for ABS and in cases where money was collected, the same wasn’t shared with local communities.
• Way ahead: The Joint Parliamentary Committee, to which the bill was referred, advised that the penalty structure shouldn't be too generous and should be proportionate to the profits realised by organisations using biological resources.

 

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Q1) What is the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)?

CBD is the international legal instrument for the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilisation of genetic resources. It was opened for signature at the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit and entered into force in 1993.

 

Q2) What are the different types of Biological Diversity?

Biodiversity is usually explored at three levels - genetic diversity, species diversity and ecosystem diversity. These three levels work together to create the complexity of life on Earth.

 

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Source: Explained | Why is the Biological Diversity Bill facing opposition?