Union Government Notifies New Repositories under Biological Diversity Act, 2002

Key facts

• The Union Government notified two institutional clusters as designated repositories under Section 39 of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002.
• The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) enabled the notification in consultation with the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).
• The newly designated repositories include the Referral Centre Bhavasagara at the Centre for Marine Living Resources & Ecology (CMLRE) in Kochi.
• The MACS Collection of Microorganisms and the National Fungal Culture Collection of India (NFCCI) at the Agharkar Research Institute (ARI) in Pune were also added to the national network.
• Referral Centre Bhavasagara maintains more than 3,500 taxonomically identified and geo-referenced voucher specimens focusing on deep-sea biodiversity.
• The MACS Collection of Microorganisms specializes in anaerobes and extremophiles, while the NFCCI serves as a dedicated fungal germplasm repository.
• The national network of repositories under Section 39 previously consisted of 18 designated institutions before this expansion.
• Under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, any person discovering a new taxon is required to inform the designated repository and deposit relevant voucher specimens.
• The designated institutions are mandated to accept and safeguard holotypes, isotypes, paratypes, and other biological materials to support Access and Benefit-Sharing (ABS) tracking.