The Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill, 2021

The Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill, 2021 was introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 16, 2021 to amend the Biological Diversity Act, 2002.

Need for the Bill

The bill was introduced to tweak the shortcomings in the Biodiversity Act 2002, as concerns were raised by Ayush medicine, seed, industry and research sectors urging the government to simplify, streamline and reduce the compliance burden.

• The bill was introduced to provide a conducive environment for collaborative research and investments. It was also required to simplify the patent application process and widen the scope of access and benefit-sharing with local communities

Key Amendments Proposed

• It provides exemption to registered AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy) practitioners, and cultivated medicinal plants and their products from intimating the Biodiversity Boards for accessing biological resources.
• It provides for 11 additional members in the National Biodiversity Authority. It will now include six ex-officio members dealing with wildlife, forestry research, and Panchayati Raj ,four representatives from State Biodiversity Boards and a Member-Secretary.
• The central government can delegate the power to notify any species which is near- extinction as a threatened species, to the state government. However, before notifying any threatened species, the state government must consult the NBA.
• The role of state biodiversity boards has been strengthened and better clarified in the bill.
• Now, the state government will prescribe the composition of the Biodiversity Management Committee. Further, state governments may also constitute BMCs at the intermediate or district Panchayat level.
• The offences under the Act are cognizable and non-bailable. A cognizable offence is one for which a police officer may arrest an accused person without a warrant. The Bill makes it a civil offence.

Issues in the Bill

• It been introduced without seeking public comments as required under the pre-legislative consultative policy.
• It defeats the purpose of the original act as the main focus of the bill is to facilitate trade in biodiversity as opposed to conservation and protection of biodiversity.
• Cultivated medicinal plants have been exempted from the purview of the Act under this bill. As it is impossible to differentiate a cultivated plant from a wild one, this provision could allow large companies to evade the requirement for prior approval or share the benefit with local communities.
• The bill has excluded the term Bio-utilization which is an important element in the Act. It will leave out various activities such as characterization, incentivisation and bioassay which are undertaken with commercial motive.
• It was referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee on December 20, 2021, which will examine its contents and give its recommendations.