National Biodiversity Authority

 

Introduction

 

 

 

 

The Biological Diversity Act (2002) of India came into effect on 5 February 2003 (No. 18 of 2003).

 

The Act provides for the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of the components of biodiversity, and fair & equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the use of biological diversity and its knowledge.

 

The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) was established by the Government of India to implement the Biological Diversity Act (BDA): to facilitate, regulate and advice the government regarding conservation of biodiversity, sustainable use and benefit sharing.

 

The NBA with its head office established in Chennai is mandated to advice the central government on the core issues of the Act as also advice the state governments on matters of areas of biodiversity conservation as laid out under Section 37 of the BDA.

 

Under the auspices of the NBA, a State Biodiversity Board (SBB) has been established in each state of the country.  The role of the SBBs is to facilitate the transfer of guidelines, mandates and advice from the NBA to the respective state governments on the core values of the Act.

 

The SBBs are responsible for granting approvals for commercial utilization, bio-survey or bio-utilization of biological resources by Indians.

 

As per the guidelines of the Section 41 and Rule 22 of the BDA the Biodiversity Management Committees (BMC) are established with the NBA developing the guidelines for the operationalization of the BMCs at the local levels.

 

The BMCs are responsible for documenting and chronicling the local biological diversity, habitat preservation, conservation of wild and domesticated varieties of fauna flora, fungi and micro-organisms, and sustainable use of biological diversity and resources.  Since the founding of the NBA, there are 62,502 BMCs established in 29 states around the country as of 17 July 2017.

 

The NBA carries out its functions through a structure comprising of the secretariat, the SBBs, the BMCs and constituted Expert Committees.  

 

For more information on the NBA, and to download the BDA, visit nbaindia.org.  Or contact:

 

Dr. (Mrs.) B. Meenakumari, Chairperson (chairman@nba.nic.in)

Mr. T. Rabikumar, IFS, Secretary (secretary@nba.nic.in)

National Biodiversity Authority

5th Floor, TICEL Bio Park, CSIR Road, Taramani, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600113, India

Phone: +91 (44) 22541805; Fax: +91 (44) 22541073

 

 

Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 January 2018