Context: The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) published insights from India’s First National Report on the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS).
About Government releases first national report on the Nagoya Protocol:
What It Is?
- The Nagoya Protocol is a landmark supplementary international treaty to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) that was adopted globally in 1992. Officially titled the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization, it creates a transparent, legally binding framework to ensure that physical biological materials or Digital Sequence Information (DSI) are accessed and used fairly.
Key Features of the Nagoya Protocol:
The international treaty governs global biological resource exchanges through three core functional pillars:
- Prior Informed Consent (PIC): Researchers or companies must obtain approval from the concerned national authority before accessing biological resources.
- Mutually Agreed Terms (MAT): A formal agreement defines resource usage terms, responsibilities, and benefit-sharing arrangements between users and provider countries.
- Fair Benefit-Sharing: Profits from biological resources—through royalties, fees, research, or technology transfer—must benefit local communities and conservers.
- ABS Clearing-House Mechanism: A global online platform tracks permits and issues compliance certificates to prevent illegal use and biopiracy.
- Protection of Traditional Knowledge: Safeguards indigenous knowledge, cultural practices, and community rights linked to biological resources.
Key Findings of India’s First National Report:
- Massive Scale of Legal Approvals: Between November 1, 2017, and December 31, 2025, India granted a total of 12,830 approvals under the ABS framework. Of these, the central National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) issued 5,913 approvals, while State Biodiversity Boards (SBBs) and UT Biodiversity Councils issued 6,917.
- Dominating Global Compliance Metrics: India has emerged as a clear global leader in biodiversity traceability, publishing 3,556 Internationally Recognized Certificates of Compliance (IRCCs) via the global clearing-house. This single-handedly accounts for 60.24% of all certificates issued worldwide.
- Substantial Revenue Realization and Disbursal: The implementation of the ABS mechanism enabled the NBA to realize a total of ₹216.31 crore. Out of this collection, ₹139.69 crore has been successfully disbursed down to benefit claimers, local communities, and field conservers to support habitat restoration.
- Robust Three-Tier Institutional Grid: The report highlights India’s vast community-based governance network. This includes the NBA at the apex, SBBs in all states, and more than 2,76,653 local Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) set up by elected local bodies to manage regional resources.
- Vast Structural Training Footprint: To back its decentralized system, India conducted 3,724 dedicated workshops and capacity-building initiatives, training a total of 2,56,393 local functionaries, scientists, and community leaders during the reporting window.
Successful Domestic Case Studies Highlighted:
- The Dengue Treatment Resource (Madhya Pradesh): Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. paid an upfront fee of ₹4,50,000 to access the medicinal plant Cocculus hirsutus from the forests of Chhindwara. In 2020, 95% of this money (₹4,27,500) was transferred directly to the M.P. Minor Forest Produce Federation for conservation and local welfare work.
- The Bioethanol Agricultural Project (Uttar Pradesh): Indian Oil Corporation Limited paid an upfront benefit-sharing fee of ₹18,60,000 to access local agricultural residues in Aligarh for bioethanol research. From this, ₹17,67,000 was disbursed straight to the Uttar Pradesh State Biodiversity Board.
Key Challenges in Implementation:
- Tracing Biological Supply Chains: Biological resources often pass through local traders and brokers, making it difficult to identify the original source community.
Example: Medicinal herbs bought from wholesale markets may not be traceable back to the village that conserved them.
- Complex Documentation Delays: Differences between domestic ABS agreements and international formats create administrative and verification bottlenecks.
Example: Officials often manually extract data from lengthy contracts to generate global compliance certificates.
- Low Awareness and Language Barriers: Technical legal terms of the Nagoya Protocol are difficult for many rural communities to understand.
Example: Lack of regional-language ABS documents limits village councils’ participation in negotiations.
- No Unified Public Repository: India lacks a centralized digital platform containing all ABS agreements and benefit-sharing records.
Example: Researchers and state agencies struggle to access historical ABS data for policy or monitoring purposes.
Way Ahead:
- End-to-End Digital ABS Portal: Develop a fully automated online platform to manage applications, approvals, and certificate issuance efficiently.
- Standardized Valuation Systems: Create scientific methods to determine fair pricing of biological resources and prevent underpayment to local communities.
- Regional Language Translation: Translate ABS rules, SOPs, and agreement templates into local languages to improve grassroots participation.
- Digital Tracking for Traders: Mandate brokers and traders to maintain digital transaction records to preserve traceability of biological resources.
- Clear DSI Guidelines: Establish strong rules for Digital Sequence Information (DSI) to ensure fair benefit-sharing from online genetic data usage.
Conclusion:
India’s First National Report on the Nagoya Protocol showcases the country’s global leadership in turning biodiversity protection into a practical model for local economic empowerment. By funneling crores in benefit-sharing revenues directly back to local communities through its massive network of over 2.76 lakh local management committees, India has proven that conservation and commercial innovation can grow together.
