National Biodiversity Authority
The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) was established in 2003 to implement India’s Biological Diversity Act (2002). The NBA is a Statutory, Autonomous Body and it performs facilitative, regulatory and advisory function for the Government of India on issues of conservation, sustainable use of biological resources and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the use of biological resources.
The Biological Diversity Act (2002) mandates implementation of the Act through decentralized system with the NBA focusing on advising the Central Government on matters relating to the conservation of biodiversity, sustainable use of its components and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the utilization of biological resources; and advising the State Governments in the selection of areas of biodiversity importance to be notified under Sub-Section (1) of Section 37 as heritage sites and measures for the management of such heritage sites;
The State Biodiversity Boards (SBBs) focus on advising the State Governments, subject to any guidelines issued by the Central Government, on matters relating to the conservation of biodiversity, sustainable use of its components and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of biological resources;
The SSBs also regulate, by granting of approvals or otherwise requests for commercial utilization or bio-survey and bio-utilization of any biological resource by Indians. The local level Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) are responsible for promoting conservation, sustainable use and documentation of biological diversity including preservation of habitats, conservation of land races, folk varieties and cultivars, domesticated stocks and breeds of animals and microorganisms and chronicling of knowledge relating to biological diversity.
The NBA with its headquarters in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, delivers its mandate through a structure that comprises of the Authority, Secretariat, SBBs, BMCs and Expert Committees.
Since its establishment, NBA has supported creation of SBBs in 28 States and, facilitated establishment of around 31,574 BMCs.
