Participation in the annual conference of the Union for Ethical BioTrade (UEBT) ‘Beauty of Sourcing with Respect’ in June 2018 in Paris, France

20 Jun, 2018

Mr T. Rabikumar, Secretary, National Biodiversity Authority, participated in the Union for Ethical BioTrade (UEBT) annual conference for companies from the beauty, food, beverage and pharmaceutical sectors on 19-20 June 2018 in Paris, France. Speakers at the conference included representatives from Natura Cosmetics, Weleda, L’Oréal, Symrise, Marin Bauer, Capua 1880, Seppic, Plant Advanced Technologies, Rainforest Alliance, Sederma, WWF, Global Nature Fund, Sustainable Food Lab, Tatil Design, United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, and additional experts and authorities from Asia, Africa and Latin America. Also, technical exchanges were conducted on Access and Benefit-Sharing (ABS) Exchange and Ethical Sourcing.

Mr Rabikumar presented updates on India’s ABS laws and regulations as part of the ABS Exchange Technical Sessions which were moderated by Mr Suhel al-Janabi, Co-Manager of the ABS Capacity Development Initiative, GIZ, Germany. The session highlighted the existing ABS legislation in India, the application process for access to biological resources, and benefit-sharing. He also described the associated community empowerment that occurs, the nature of biological resources used and the various sectors that procure the biological resources such as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, environmental bioremediation, nutraceuticals, research and the export of Red Sanders (a high-value bio-resource).