The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was signed by the
Community and all the Member States at the United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro from 3 to 14 June 1992,
and come into effect in 29th December 1993. It is an international legally
binding treaty. The Convention has three main goals:
§ conservation of biological diversity
§ sustainable use of its components
§ fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic
resources
For realizing the objectives of CBD, Government of India enacted
an umbrella legislation called the biological Diversity Act 2002 aimed at
conservation of biological resources and associated knowledge as well as
facilitating access to them in a sustainable manner and through a just process.
§ To implement this Act central government established a body
called as National Biodiversity Authority, under the power conferred by section
8 of CBD Act. It started functioning from 1st October 2003. The NBA is an
Autonomous body .The main functions of the Authority are, according to Ministry
of environment and forest.
§ It shall be the duty of the National Biodiversity Authority to
regulate activities referred to in sections 3, 4 and 6 and by regulations issue
guidelines for access to biological resources and for fair and equitable
benefit sharing.
§ The National Biodiversity Authority may grant approval for
undertaking any activity referred to in sections 3, 4 and 6.
§ The National Biodiversity Authority may advise the Central
Government on matters relating to the conservation of biodiversity, sustainable
use of its components and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the
utilization of biological resources;
§ The National Biodiversity Authority may advise the State
Governments in the selection of areas of biodiversity importance to be notified
under sub‑section (1) of section 37 as heritage sites and measures for the
management of such heritage sites;
§ The National Biodiversity Authority may perform such other
functions as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act.
§ The National Biodiversity Authority may, on behalf of the
Central Government, take any measures necessary 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 which is derived from India.
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It is a 3 tier system
1.
At national Level: National
Biodiversity Authority (NBA)
2.
At State Level: State
Biodiversity Boards (SBB’s) – Advise the State Governments, subject to
guidelines issued by the Central Government, on matters relating to
conservation of biodiversity, sustainable use of its components and equitable
sharing of benefits arising out of utilization of biological resources.
3.
On local Level: Biodiversity
Management Committees (BMC’s) – Prepare, maintain and validate People’s
Biodiversity Register (PBR) in consultation with the local people. T Advice on
any matter referred to it by the State Biodiversity Board or Authority for
granting approval.
Currently there
are SBBs in 26 States, and around 33,426 BMCs. BMC’s can be a major tool
for implementation this whole system but actually it is not working. There are
not all areas of country which have proper BMC’s working there and this
register maintenance is these days is just a matter of formality. Current
chairman of authority is Dr. Balakrishna Pisupati , and office is situated at
Chennai.
(Sources: National Biodiversity Authority, MEOF )
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