National Biodiversity Authority Crosses Rs 200-Crore ABS Disbursement Milestone

Key facts

• The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) has crossed cumulative access and benefit-sharing (ABS) disbursements exceeding Rs 200 crore.
• NBA sanctioned Rs 8.23 crore to 27 State Biodiversity Boards and 5 Union Territory Biodiversity Councils from four crops: bitter gourd, okra, chilli, and onion.
• The ABS proceeds were realised from seed companies Nunhems India Pvt. Ltd., East West Seeds India Pvt. Ltd., and Bayer Science and Innovation Pvt. Ltd.
• The distribution of ABS proceeds is based on the area under cultivation as published by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
• Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra are the largest cumulative recipients across the four crops.
• Maharashtra's share is primarily attributed to its 49 per cent share of India's onion cultivation area.
• The highest ABS amount disbursed was to Madhya Pradesh at INR 1,17,39,914, followed by Maharashtra at INR 1,01,30,649 and Andhra Pradesh at INR 75,55,077.
• Other recipient states include Karnataka (INR 65,22,893), Gujarat (INR 64,05,708), Odisha (INR 57,63,361), Bihar (INR 47,63,367), Chhattisgarh (INR 39,91,285), West Bengal (INR 36,04,978), and Uttar Pradesh (INR 35,72,456).
• The remaining states and union territories collectively received INR 1,82,88,892.
• The funds are to be utilised for activities under Section 32(2) of the Biological Diversity Act 2002, including documentation of People's Biodiversity Registers, conservation, restoration, and capacity building.
• The initiative contributes to India's commitments under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Nagoya Protocol, and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) Target 13.