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The National Biodiversity Authority disbursed Rs 5.68 crore (Rs 5,68,18,277) under the Access and Benefit-Sharing mechanism on 30 August 2026.
The money was transferred to State Biodiversity Boards, Union Territory Biodiversity Councils and a national research institution.
It came from the commercial use of three agricultural biological resources - okra, cucumber and watermelon - by seed companies.
Okra alone accounted for Rs 3.51 crore, covering 139 varieties and 28 hybrids.
Cumulative ABS disbursement by the NBA has now crossed Rs 191 crore.
ABS is the principle that when a commercial user takes a biological resource or associated traditional knowledge from a country, the monetary and non-monetary benefits arising from its use must be shared fairly with the people and places the resource came from. In this case seed companies used Indian okra, cucumber and watermelon germplasm in commercial breeding, and a share of the proceeds flowed back through the NBA. Because the seed material had been bought from open markets and traders, no individual source farmers could be identified - so the NBA distributed the money among states in proportion to actual crop cultivation volumes instead.
Simple Analogy: It is a royalty: if a company builds a profitable product on somebody else's raw material, a share of the earnings goes back to the source.
The principal Indian law on biodiversity conservation, sustainable use and benefit-sharing; the NBA was established under it in 2003
Operational rules framed under the 2002 Act, governing procedures for access and benefit-sharing
Amended the 2002 Act to balance conservation with commercial use - introducing a registration-based route before seeking intellectual property rights and easing access for codified traditional knowledge and registered AYUSH practitioners
Notified on 29 April 2025; requires users with annual turnover above Rs 1 crore to file annual statements of resources used, sets benefit sharing of at least 5% of sale or auction value for high-value resources such as red sanders, sandalwood and agarwood, and brings Digital Sequence Information within the framework
The international framework that India's ABS regime gives effect to; the Nagoya Protocol governs access to genetic resources and fair, equitable sharing of benefits
Statutory body regulating access to biological resources, advising the Centre and operating the ABS mechanism at the national level
Regulate access for Indian entities and receive ABS funds at the state and Union Territory level
Local-level bodies at panchayat and municipality level responsible for documenting biodiversity through People's Biodiversity Registers
Parent ministry for the NBA and India's biodiversity policy
GS Paper 3 > Environment > Biodiversity Conservation and Legislation
General Awareness > Environment and Static GK
General Awareness > Current Affairs
Which of the following statements is/are correct? Proper design and effective implementation of UN-REDD+ Programme can significantly contribute to 1. protection of biodiversity 2. resilience of forest ecosystems 3. poverty reduction Select the correct answer using the code given below.
Answer: 1, 2 and 3
Consider the following statements: 1. Most of the world's coral reefs are in tropical waters. 2. More than one-third of the world's coral reefs are located in the territories of Australia, Indonesia and Philippines. 3. Coral reefs host far more number of animal phyla than those hosted by tropical rainforests. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer: 1, 2 and 3
Which one of the following National Parks lies completely in the temperate alpine zone?
Answer: Valley of Flowers National Park
The "Miyawaki method" is well known for the:
Answer: Creation of mini forests in urban areas
Sharing of monetary and non-monetary benefits arising from the use of biological resources and associated traditional knowledge with their source
The local record of biological resources and traditional knowledge prepared by a Biodiversity Management Committee
Genetic sequence data held in digital form, brought within the ABS framework by the 2025 Regulation
A 2010 agreement under the Convention on Biological Diversity governing access to genetic resources and equitable benefit-sharing