NBA releases Rs 6.67 crore under Access and Benefit Sharing mechanism for biodiversity conservation in 11 cotton-growing States

📌 Summary:

• The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) released Rs 6.67 crore under the Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) mechanism to support biodiversity conservation, sustainable use of bio-resources and livelihoods in 11 cotton-growing States
• The benefit-sharing amount (Rs 7.62 crore total) was realised from Bayer Science & Innovation (formerly Monsanto) for research on 25,431 cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) varieties; cotton supports nearly 4-5 crore people across its value chain
• Since bio-resources were accessed via traders/intermediaries, individual conservers could not be identified; NBA used expert-committee modalities to allocate funds to State Biodiversity Boards based on published geographical-occurrence data (else retained in the National Biodiversity Fund under Section 27 of the Biological Diversity Act)
• State-wise allocation used ICAR's AICRP-Cotton data, proportional to each State's cotton area (Maharashtra Rs 2.41 cr, Gujarat Rs 1.38 cr, Telangana Rs 1.06 cr the largest); funds support People's Biodiversity Registers, ecosystem restoration, Biodiversity Heritage Sites, traditional-knowledge documentation and Biodiversity Management Committees
• Total ABS funds released by NBA now reach Rs 152.24 crore; the move advances the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (Target 13 on fair benefit-sharing, Target 4 on genetic diversity) and the Nagoya Protocol

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS3 Environment & Biodiversity — operationalising Access and Benefit Sharing, the Biological Diversity Act, and India's obligations under the Nagoya Protocol and Kunming-Montreal Framework

📝 Prelims Facts:

• NBA is a statutory body under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 (Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change)
• ABS implements the Nagoya Protocol principle of fair and equitable benefit-sharing from genetic resources
• Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework: Target 13 (benefit-sharing) and Target 4 (genetic diversity)

🔑 Key Term: Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) — the mechanism ensuring that benefits from commercial use of biological resources are shared with conservers and reinvested in conservation