Biological Diversity Act

Taking strong exception to officials of several States and UTs not appearing before it during proceedings on protection of biodiversity, the National Green Tribunal has issued bailable warrants against their Resident Commissioners in New Delhi. The green panel is livid as various states and union territories have "failed" to pay attention to the unique biodiversity of the country and sought implementation of provisions of Biological Diversity Act, 2002 and Biological Diversity Rules, 2004.

The Biological Diversity Act, 2002 is an Act of the Parliament of India for preservation of biological diversity in India, and provides mechanism for equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the use of traditional biological resources and knowledge. The Act was enacted to meet the obligations under Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), to which India is a party It is mandatory to set up Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) at the local level in every state under Section 41 of Biological Biodiversity Act 2002, for promoting conservation, sustainable use and documentation of biological diversity.

Further, the People's Biodiversity Register, a document which records the diversity of flora and fauna, has also not been prepared by the BMCs in many States. Biodiversity has been defined under Section 2(b) of the Act as "the variability among living organisms from all sources and the ecological complexes of which they are part, and includes diversity within species or between species and of eco-systems".

The Act also defines Biological resources as "plants, animals and micro-organisms or parts thereof, their genetic material and by-products (excluding value added products) with actual or potential use or value, but does not include human genetic material. The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) is a statutory autonomous body, headquartered in Chennai, under the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India established in 2003 to implement the provisions under the Act.

State Biodiversity Boards (SBB) has been created in 28 States along with 31,574 Biological management committees (for each local body) across India. If a person, violates the regulatory provisions he will be "punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years, or with fine which may extend to ten lakh rupees and where the damage caused exceeds ten lakh rupees such fine may commensurate with the damage caused, or with both." Any offence under this Act is non-bailable and cognisable.