Biological Diversity Act, 2002

• RAOS, Jaipur
• 22, Dec 2021

Environmentalists have expressed concern over amendments to the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 on the grounds that it prioritises intellectual property and commercial trade at the expense of the Act’s key aim of conserving biological resources.

The amended Bill was drafted in response to complaints by traditional Indian medicine practitioners, seed sector, and industry and researchers that the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, which was enacted for conservation of biological diversity and ensure fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the use of biological resources with indigenous and local communities, imposed a heavy “compliance burden” and made it hard to conduct collaborative research and investments and simplify patent application processes.

About Biological Diversity Act, 2002
Enacted in 2002, the act aims at the conservation of biological resources, managing its sustainable use and enabling fair and equitable sharing benefits arising out of the use and knowledge of biological resources with the local communities. 

Salient Features of the Act
• The Act prohibits the following activities without the prior approval from the National Biodiversity Authority:
• Any person or organisation (either based in India or not) obtaining any biological resource occurring in India for its research or commercial utilisation.
• The transfer of the results of any research relating to any biological resources occurring in, or obtained from, India.
• The claim of any intellectual property rights on any invention based on the research made on the biological resources obtained from India.