The Biological Diversity Act of India and agro-biodiversity management

Abstract

After the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was adopted by the United Nations, in June 1992, the contracting countries were required to integrate consideration of conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity into relevant legal procedures, programmes and policies. The Biological Diversity Act was passed by the Parliament in 2002 after a process of consultation among stakeholders. The Act provides for conservation of biological diversity, sustainable use of its components and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the use of biological resources. Agro-biodiversity which is a subset of total biological diversity is a major concern for the world food security and the issues of conservation and management of agro-biodiversity are one of the high priorities for a diversity-rich country like India. In this article we analyse the provisions of this Act related to agro-biodiversity management and how the access to these resources may be managed to channel the benefits to the users as well as custodians of agro-biodiversity.