National Biodiversity Authority

Before a foreign company can study, use, or profit from an Indian plant, animal, or microbe, one Chennai-based body has to say yes first.

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Environment and Ecology · EnvEco0024

National Biodiversity Authority: Three Tiers

National level

National Biodiversity Authority (2003)

Chennai-headquartered; regulates foreign access to India’s biological resources.

State level

State Biodiversity Boards

Handle Indian citizens’/companies’ commercial-use access requests.

Local level

Biodiversity Management Committees

~277,688 BMCs across 28 states + 8 UTs, preparing People’s Biodiversity Registers (~268,031 as of Nov 2023).

📑 Contents

1Must Know
2Good to Know
3Test Yourself
4Great to Know
5Current Affairs

Must Know

The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) is a statutory body, established in 2003 under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002.
It’s headquartered in Chennai.
The Act itself was enacted to fulfil India’s commitments under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, 1992.
The NBA regulates access to India’s biological resources, and enforces fair, equitable benefit-sharing.
Foreign individuals, companies, and organisations need the NBA’s prior approval before accessing Indian biological resources or associated knowledge.

Good to Know

The Act sets up a three-tier structure: the NBA at the national level, State Biodiversity Boards, and local Biodiversity Management Committees.
State Biodiversity Boards handle access requests by Indian citizens or companies, for commercial use of biological resources.
Biodiversity Management Committees work at the local-body level, set up under Section 41 of the Act.
Every local body must set up its own committee, to promote conservation and document biological diversity in its area.

Test Yourself

Great to Know

A Biodiversity Management Committee’s main task is preparing a People’s Biodiversity Register, recording local biological resources and community knowledge about them.
Membership rules for these committees require at least one-third women, and at least 18% from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
As of November 2023, India counted around 277,688 Biodiversity Management Committees, across 28 states and 8 Union Territories.
Those committees had together prepared roughly 268,031 People’s Biodiversity Registers by that same count.

Current Affairs

On 19 June 2026, the Central Government notified the Natural History Museum (NHM), Mizoram University, Aizawl. It becomes a Designated Repository under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002. This followed the NBA’s own recommendation. NHM became India’s 21st Designated Repository. It will maintain voucher specimens of flora and fauna from the Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot, including type specimens of newly discovered species. (Source: PIB)
On 9 August 2026, NBA disbursed about ₹3.79 crore under its Access and Benefit Sharing mechanism. It reached 33 State/UT Biodiversity Boards, plus ICAR-NBPGR and a Haryana cattle-semen research centre. (Source: PIB)
The funds came from companies accessing India’s crop genetic resources, including tomato, chilli, and cauliflower varieties. A separate share came from Sri Lanka’s government, for accessing Sahiwal cattle semen. (Source: PIB)
Funds are shared out by each crop’s cultivation area, using Agriculture Ministry data. Recipients must use them for Biodiversity Registers, conservation, and local community welfare. (Source: PIB)
This release supports the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework’s benefit-sharing goals. NBA’s cumulative ABS disbursements have now crossed ₹166 crore. (Source: PIB)
On 31 July 2026, in a separate release, NBA disbursed over ₹24 lakh in benefit-sharing — a distinct, smaller payout from the 9 August one.
- Recipients included a Murrah buffalo breeding farm in Haryana (₹4.30 lakh), ICAR-NBPGR (₹4.61 lakh), ICRISAT (₹5.36 lakh), and 11 State Biodiversity Boards, for cotton genetic-resource access.
- Access covered Murrah buffalo breeding stock, 627 pearl millet varieties, 55 maize varieties, and multiple crop and fish genetic resources. This release brought NBA’s cumulative ABS total to about ₹153 crore, at that point.
(Source: PIB).