Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill, 2021

1. About

• Biological diversity deals with the degree of nature’s variety in the biosphere. 
• This variety can be observed at three levels; the genetic variability within a species, the variety of species within a community, and the organization of species in an area into the distinctive plant and animal communities that constitute ecosystem diversity.

2. About The Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill, 2021

Key Features of the Bill amendment by the parliament 

• Access to biological resources and associated knowledge:   The Act requires prior approval or intimation to the regulatory authority based on the origin of the entity for obtaining biological resources occurring in India or associated knowledge.   
• The regulatory authorities under the Act for these purposes are National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) and State Biodiversity Boards (SBB).  

The Bill amends the classification of entities, list of activities requiring intimation, and adds exemptions as follows

Approval for Intellectual Property Rights (IPR): 

The Act specifies that approval of the NBA is required before: 

• applying for IPR involving biological resources obtained from India, or 
• sealing of patent.  
• The Bill provides that approval will be required before the grant of IPR instead of before the application itself. 

3. Major threats associated with Biodiversity

• Large-scale development projects such as min­ing and dam and road construction.
• Conversion of biodiversity-rich ecosystems, such as tropical forests to farmlands and in­dustrial and residential sites.
• Poaching of wildlife and over-harvesting of forest products.
• Changes to how we use the land and waters. Both our lands and our seas contain many different ecosystems, and these are affected by business actions. Overexploitation and unsustainable use of resources
• Climate change.
• Invasive species.

4. Key issues concerned with the Bill

• Ambiguity in the exemption for codified traditional knowledge
• A broad interpretation of this term might exempt almost all traditional knowledge from benefit-sharing requirements.
• Local communities may not have a direct say in benefit-sharing
• Local people will not be directly involved in setting the terms and conditions.
• Further, there is no provision for a mechanism for obtaining prior informed consent of the local and indigenous communities. 
• There is a lack of substantive legislative guidance on adjudging the penalty
• The question is whether it is appropriate to empower members of the Executive to adjudicate penalty
• Inconsistency in the definition of “foreign-controlled company”

5. Importance of Biodiversity

• Biodiversity is important to humans for many reasons. Biodiversity is also considered by many to have intrinsic value—that is, each species has a value and a right to exist, whether or not it is known to have value to humans. 

The biodiversity book by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization values that humans place on biodiversity:

• Economic- biodiversity provides humans with raw materials for consumption and production. Many livelihoods, such as those of farmers, fishers and timber workers, are dependent on biodiversity.

• Ecological life support- biodiversity provides functioning ecosystems that supply oxygen, clean air and water, pollination of plants, pest control, wastewater treatment and many ecosystem services.

• Recreation- many recreational pursuits rely on our unique biodiversities, such as birdwatching, hiking, camping and fishing. Our tourism industry also depends on biodiversity.

• Cultural- Australian culture is closely connected to biodiversity through the expression of identity, spirituality and aesthetic appreciation. Indigenous Australians have strong connections and obligations to biodiversity arising from spiritual beliefs about animals and plants.

• Scientific- biodiversity represents a wealth of systematic ecological data that help us to understand the natural world and its origins.

6. Biodiversity Conservation

• Biodiversity conservation may be in situ as well as ex-situ. 
• In in situ conservation, the endangered species are protected in their natural habitat so that the entire ecosystem is protected. 
• Recently, 34 ‘biodiversity hotspots in the world have been proposed for intensive conservation efforts. Of these, three (Western Ghats-Sri Lanka, Himalaya and Indo-Burma) cover India’s rich biodiversity regions. 
• Our country’s in situ conservation efforts are reflected in its 14 biosphere reserves, 90 national parks, > 450 wildlife sanctuaries and many sacred groves. 
• Ex-situ conservation methods include protective maintenance of threatened species in zoological parks and botanical gardens, in vitro fertilization, tissue culture propagation and cryopreservation of gametes.