What is Biodiversity Governance?

The rapidly accelerating biodiversity loss has not spared the developed as well as the developing countries, leading to a series of negotiations and agreements, including the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD). 

In light of these rules, several countries signed the CBD Nagoya in 2010 in Japan and adopted the Nagoya Protocol which aimed at giving effects to the fair and equitable sharing provisions of the CBD.

As India is a key mega-biodiversity nation and has a repository of genetic resources associated with flora and fauna, it is essential to re-examine the integration of the availability of resource with mankind’s development needs.

Besides this, biodiversity governance should guarantee that any use of information on bio-assets has an immediate advantage to the communities that have been the overseer of this conventional information.

Biodiversity Governance in India

1- The Nagoya Protocol tried to ensure commercial and research utilisation of genetic resources prompted offering its advantages to the administration and the community that conserved such resources.

2- India's Biological Diversity Act 2002 (BD Act), is in close collaboration with the Nagoya Protocol. 

3- The BD Act was hailed as a significant advance towards protecting India's tremendous biodiversity, as it perceived the sovereign right of nations over its natural resources.

4- Under this Act, a significant administrative system was the accentuation on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) to neighbourhood populaces. 

5- The Act tries to address issues of overseeing bio-assets in the most decentralized way conceivable. 

6- It also visualizes three-layered structures: the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) at the national level, the State Biodiversity Boards (SSBs) at the state level and Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) at the neighbourhood level. 

7- It also forces preclusions on the exchange of genetic material originating from India without specific approval from competent authorities.

8- It also reinforces the nation's remain as for anybody guaranteeing a protected innovation directly over biodiversity-related information.

What are the issues associated with it?

1- Prohibition of Agriculture and Conventional Practices: The Nagoya Protocol noted that each party consider the significance of genetic assets for food and agriculture and their role for food security. 

Accordingly, customary agriculture and conventional practices are exempted from the purview of benefit-sharing. This, in turn, has led to bio-piracy of India's genetic resources and related customary information. Notable instances include neem and turmeric. 

Furthermore, India faces the challenge of protecting the intellectual property rights of the traditional farmers who are under constant threat from external agencies.

2- Erosion Traditional Breeding Systems: With the advancement of industrialisation, commercial agriculture and the need for more efficient breeds increased. This prompted a progressive decrease in traditional breeding systems and a resulting loss of agrobiodiversity. There was also a consistent loss of traditional information related to ancient breeding. 

3- No Protection for Animal Genetic Resources: The access to crop genetic resources isn't covered under the purview of Nagoya Protocol but it is protected under the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. However, there's no adequate protection for animal genetic resources. 

4- No Recognition of Traditional Knowledge: Due to the absence of recognition of traditional knowledge and legal protection against usurping the knowledge of indigenous communities, the local biodiversity cannot be protected.

What can be done?

1- Agricultural socities must be promoted as they have helped in preserving hundreds of species that would have been lost otherwise with the ascent of commercial agriculture.

2- The coordination of International Treaties need to consider the legislative, administrative and policy measures that cross each other’s path.

3- People’s Biodiversity Register (PBR) should be maintained and must document folk knowledge of status, uses, history, current changes and powers driving changes in biodiversity resources, and individuals' view of how these assets should be managed.

The register, in turn, will protect the rights of farmers or communities over the traditional knowledge they may hold over a particular variety and will also be helpful if biopiracy and intellectual property rights emerge.

Notwithstanding, even after a decade, most of the world's biotechnology-based licenses are possessed by the developed nations, with the resources to make them sourced from mega-biodiverse nations such as India. Hence, there is a requirement for a biodiversity administration framework that can guarantee a reasonable and evenhanded sharing of hereditary resources.

What is the meaning of Biodiversity in simple words?