Following the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF)'s recent notification on access to biological resources and benefits sharing (ABS), the National Bio-Diversity Authority (NBA) has directed all the state governments to comply with it in accordance with Biological Diversity Act, 2002.  According to a source associated with the development, it might take some time for the state biodiversity boards to implement the notification, failing which the central and state governments will be losing the royalty meant for the sole aim of biodiversity conservation.

The notification which came into effect from November 21, 2014 states that when the biological resources are accessed for commercial utilisation or the bio-survey and bio-utilisation leads to commercial utilisation, the applicant shall have the option to pay the benefit sharing ranging from 0.1 to 0.5 per cent at the following graded percentages of the annual gross ex-factory sale of the product which shall be worked out based on the annual gross ex-factory sale minus government taxes.

National Green Tribunal (NGT) which was until now awaiting a clear-cut and well-defined guideline on ABS has also disposed of over dozen such concerned cases recently following the MoEF's ABS notification, according to an official associated with the development.

Cases of litigations were pending with NGT Bhopal bench of Madhya Pradesh (MP) and in various benches of High Court of MP. In 2012, companies had moved to courts when Madhya Pradesh State Biodiversity Board (MPSBB) asked them to deposit the stipulated amount on benefit sharing as per the Biological Diversity Act, 2002.

Explains Dr R G Soni, former member secretary, MPSBB, "Cases were pending at NGT for final order, awaiting the recently notified guidelines on benefit sharing. Due to lack of uniform benefit sharing guidelines, which is now notified, boards of all the states were losing Rs. 25,000 crore every year since 2004. Similarly, NBA was also losing Rs. 10,000 crore every year since 2004. "

Dr Soni is credited to have initiated the action during his tenure at MPSBB following which companies moved to NGT. However, NGT approved the actions taken by MPSBB finally.

State biodiversity boards have hailed the notification as a welcome change as it will notify uniform rules thus allowing them to collect from domestic and foreign companies a certain percentage of their ex-factory gross sales of products using biological resources and traditional knowledge.

As per the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, Ayush manufacturer has the responsibility to share details of the source from where the raw material has been procured and also a certain percentage of the revenue generated out of the production for its sustainable use.

According to Section 7 and 24 (2) of the Act, organisations extracting plant-based material for commercial purpose without intimation to state biodiversity board are liable under Section 55 (2) of the Act and shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extend up to three years with fine or five years with fine or both.

Till date, over 34,000 Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) and 28 State Biodiversity Boards (SBBs) have been set up under Section 22 (2) of the Act across the country. Local bodies have constituted the BMCs in respective states as per Section 41 of the Act. BMCs also prepare, maintain and validate People’s Biodiversity Register (PBR) in consultation with the local people. PBR gives information about the details of biological resources and traditional knowledge.