Implementing the Access and Benefit-sharing provisions of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002: From principles to practice

24 Sep, 2019

The Tamil Nadu Biodiversity Board with support of the Access and Benefit Sharing Partnership Project conducted training for the District Forest Officers (DFOs) in Tamil Nadu on the establishment of BMCs and preparation of People’s Biodiversity Registers (PBRs) during the initial period of the project implementation in 2018. DFOs are designated as nodal officers in the districts to facilitate the establishment of BMCs and preparation of PBRs in Tamil Nadu. The ABS Partnership Project has selected ten blocks in 8 districts for pilot implementation of the project. Besides the preparation of PBRs, BMCs facilitate the Access and Benefit Sharing by giving feedback on the ABS applications forwarded to them by NBA/SBBs to promote conservation and sustainable utilisation of biological resources access from the jurisdiction of BMCs and levy collection fees. However, currently BMCs still are not fully functional. The ABS Partnership project conducted many capacity development training for Forest Range Officers who are designated as Secretaries of BMCs, Block Development Officers and a consultation meeting to obtain feedback on the ABS applications and training for BMC members which helped identify some challenges and gather insights for operationalising BMCs. The ABS Partnership project organised a workshop to discuss the learnings and gather inputs from DFOs in Tamil Nadu to support the pilot BMCs in the state.

The workshop specifically focused on:

• discuss the challenges in ABS implementation and lessons learnt
• the current status of operationalisation of BMCs and documentation of PBRs in Tamil Nadu
• developing modalities for levying collection fees by the BMCs
• Identifying stakeholders who could support in the operationalisation of BMCs and their capacity building to support the process

L-R: Mr Sanjay Srivastava, IFS, PCCF and Chief Wildlife Warden of Tamil Nadu, Dr Konrad Uebelhör, Director of Indo-German Biodiversity Programme of GIZ and the Hon’ble Minister for Forest in Tamil Nadu and Chairman of Tamil Nadu Biodiversity Board, Mr Dindigul C. Sreenivasan inaugurated the workshop

This workshop was held on 24^th September 2019 in Chennai. The Hon’ble Minister for Forest in Tamil Nadu and Chairman of Tamil Nadu Biodiversity Board, Mr Dindigul C. Sreenivasan inaugurated and presided over the workshop. Mr Shambhu Kallolikar, IAS, Principal Secretary, Environment and Forests Department, Dr P. Durairasu, IFS, PCCF (HoD), Tamil Nadu Forest Department, Mr Sanjay Srivastava, IFS, PCCF and Chief Wildlife Warden of Tamil Nadu, Dr Konrad Uebelhör, Director of Indo-German Biodiversity Programme of GIZ, India and Mr T.V. Manjunatha, I.F.S., Secretary of Tamil Nadu Biodiversity Board took part in the inaugural session of the workshop. They all highlighted the significance of the Biodiversity Act and emphasised the need for collaborative efforts to make it work. Dr Balakrishna Pisupati, the former Chairperson of the NBA and Chairperson of The Forum for Law, Environment, Development and Governance (FLEDGE), spoke on ‘’Making Biodiversity Act work for development.’’ In his keynote address, he urged the DFOs to collaborate with local experts, communities, BMCs, NGOs and colleges to know about unique biodiversity in their region and become partners in its conservation and monitoring to support sustainable utilisation. Proper implementation of the Biological Diversity Act can transform the way we use our life forms for both securing livelihoods and making significant economic gains. Dr Pisupati also highlighted the need for communicating with the private sector and investors to invest in the conservation of natural resources which ultimately will in their business. He suggested organising a “Natural Capital Summit” to garner interest as well as create awareness of the importance of investing in nature.

Dr Balakrishna Pisupati, Former, Chairman, NBA and Chairman of FLEDGE delivered keynote address on ‘Making Biodiversity Act work for development

Following the inaugural sessions, the technical sessions discussed following aspects of the implementation of the Biodiversity Act.

• National Green Tribunal (NGT) Order on the establishment of BMCs and PBR – The NGT has set 31st January 2020 for completion of establishment of BMCs and preparation of all PBRs in India. Mr TV. Manjunatha, IFS, APPCF and Secretary of TNBB informed the nodal officers facilitate the process in their districts
• Insights from ABS implementation – Dr K.P. Raghuram, Technical Officers for ABS in the National Biodiversity Authority, discussed lessons learnt from ABS implementation in the country. He also presented examples of successful ABS cases from Tripura on broom grass, sale of cattle embryos of Ongole bull, Gir and Kankrej for research on cattle-breeding in Brazil. He also talked about the challenges in ABS compliance, such as the lack of traceability in the trade of biological resources.
• ABS in practice – lessons learnt from Tamil Nadu – Dr Geetha Nayak, Team Leader of Access and Benefit Sharing Partnership Project, presented an overview of various capacity building activities conducted in Tamil and lessons learnt from them. One of the key learnings from the activities undertaken in Tamil Nadu was that due to lack of awareness of the Act and clear-cut explanation on a course of action that is needed to make BMCs operational were main impediments for effective implementation of the Act. She shared the example of BMC consultation conducted in Kodaikanal to obtain feedback from the BMC members on ABS application. Many such measures are needed to generate interest and inspire other BMCs.
• In the post-lunch session, Dr V. Arivudai Nambi, Consultant, Covenant Centre for Development (CCD), Madurai talked about specific examples of ABS good practices that are being developed with the support of ABS Partnership Project and the campaign to create awareness about the BMCs in the state through “Know Your BMC” posters.
• Dr Suhas Nimbalkar, Consultant, Etimo Ventures in his talk presented about the Stakeholder engagement and monitoring mechanism for ABS and lessons learnt from training conducted for FROs and BDOs in Tamil Nadu. There are 385 BMCs at the block level, FROs who have been designated as Secretaries for the BMCs had difficulty in fulfilling their role as many of them had more than one BMCs assigned to them in addition to their core work in the forest department. While BDOs had no clear-cut role in the BMCs; therefore, did not take part in the process.

Following the technical sessions, the participants were assigned to different groups to discuss and propose solutions to certain implementation challenges. A summary of discussions is given below:

• It is indeed challenging for Forest Range Officers to function as secretaries of BMCs. Their area of operation is ‘range’ which very often consists of more than one ‘block’. Their core work in the forest department is limited to a range. While BMCs jurisdiction extends to the entire block, often involves long-distance travel. Moreover, FROs were assigned the role of Secretaries for more than one BMC, which made coordination with BMC members and performing their function as secretaries very challenging. The DFOs (nodal officers) suggested that it may be considered to designate Block Development Officers as secretaries of BMCs and FROs in supporting functions of BMCs such as preparation of PBRs or providing feedback on ABS applications or in matters relating to conservation and sustainable utilisation of biological resources. The Biological Diversity Act, 2002 has a clear-cut role for forest officers not below the rank of ranger officers as authorised officers to file complaints for violations under the Act.
• A model BMC should be established in each district which can support and inspire other BMCs to perform functions under the Act.
• Guidelines and modalities for levying fees by the BMCs to be issued.
• Establish a mechanism to obtain information from the companies on the quantity of and type of biological resources they collect and geographical location to ensure it is collected sustainably
• Establish a district-level committee headed by the district collector including DFO, officers of line departments, representative of district industries and commerce department and pollution control board, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Department, DRDA etc. to create a core mechanism to identify all users (companies) in the district, biological resources they collect, facilitate BMCs to establish a link with primary collectors of biological resources, conducting BMC consultation meetings on ABS applications, and disbursing ABS amount to benefit claimers or BMCs. A monthly meeting to convened by the District collector would also help to assess the progress and any course corrections needed.
• The department such as Central and state level drug Licencing authorities, District Industries Centre (DIC), MSME- Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Department of Ayush, Tamil Nadu Small Industries Development Corporation Limited (SIDCO), Small-Scale Industries (SSI) and cooperative society and other industry associations such as Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industries (FICCI), Confederation of Indian Industries to collate a district-wise list of industries in Tamil Nadu that use biological resources.
• 13 districts share the coastal line in Tamil Nadu; hence, coast guard may be a part of the Technical Support Groups or fishery department coordinate with the BMCs in the coastal areas.
• BMCs’ tasks are quite technical and require time investment by the members. Therefore, necessary support is given to them as well as an honorarium may be fixed.
• Each district has a large number of BMCs, to support the activities of BMCs, identify users (companies) etc., the nodal officers may be given additional workforce, project officer, who may be from RDPR dept familiar with rural administration and functioning of committees.
• Other suggestions included more capacity building training for government departments such as customs officials, BDOs, Project Officers, DRDA, Director and Joint Director, Health, Officer of Indian System of Medicine, agriculture/ horticulture, fisheries department officials, and beat level officers of forest department. Other non-governmental organisations who could support the BMCs, village youth groups, Panchayat and ward members etc.
• It is also essential to provide clarity on the scope of the Biodiversity Act, particularly on which biological resources and what activities are covered.

In the concluding session, Mr K. Chitrarasu talked about the procedure for filing complaints about violations under the Biodiversity Act and answered questions from the participants.

Over 40 participants, including 25 District Officers, attended the workshop. Detailed feedback from the participants and suggestions for the way forward were also obtained for further action.

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About the project

The ABS Partnership Project aims at strengthening the capacity of the National Biodiversity Authority, selected State Biodiversity Boards, Biodiversity Management Committees, as well as creating awareness amongst commercial users of biological resources and associated traditional knowledge for the effective implementation of ABS mechanisms under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 in keeping with India’s commitments under the Nagoya Protocol for ABS. Read more

For more information contact: biodiv.india@giz.de