Parliament Winter Session: ‘Amendment in Biological Diversity Bill aimed at allowing trade not conservation’
While the government has stated that it is amending an Act to reduce pressure on medicinal plants by encouraging their cultivation, environment experts claim that the main intention of the amendment is contrary to the aims and objectives of the Act. More details here.
As per an advocacy group, the amendment Bill contradicts the objectives of the Act.
Yesterday, on December 16, the Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav tabled the Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill, 2021 in the Lok Sabha during the ongoing Winter Session of the Parliament.
As per the draft, the Bill seeks to reduce the pressure on wild medicinal plants by encouraging cultivation of medicinal plants, decriminalise certain provisions and encourage Indian system of medicine.
According to the Union government, it also seeks to facilitate fast-tracking of research, patent application process, transfer of research results while utilising the biological resources available in India without compromising the objectives of United Nation Convention on Biological Diversity.
However, the amendment Bill has attracted criticism from various quarters and environmentalists allege that it seeks to promote trade of biological diversity rather than conserving it.
According to New Delhi-based advocacy firm Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (LIFE) the Bill has been tabled on the basis of the concerns of the industry rather than conserving biodiversity.
“The main focus of the Bill is to facilitate the trade in biodiversity as opposed to conservation, protection of biodiversity and knowledge of the local communities. The amendments are completely contrary to the aim and objective of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002,” the advocacy group mentioned in its statement on Twitter today, on December 17.
Interestingly, the Bill also mentions that ‘concerns were raised by the stakeholders representing Indian system of medicine sector, seed sector, industry sector and research sector urging to simplify, streamline and reduce compliance burden in order to encourage conducive environment for collaborative research and investments, simplify patent application process, widen the scope of levying access and benefit-sharing with local communities and for further conservation of biological resources’.
As per the advocacy group, the amendment Bill contradicts the objectives of the Act which was enacted to conserve biological diversity and ensure fair and equitable sharing of the benefits of using natural resources with indigenous and local communities.
Meanwhile, Congress’ chief whip in Lok Sabha and former Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh reportedly wrote a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla today, to send the Bill to a select committee of Parliament. He argued in the letter that the Bill should go to the Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment, Forests and Climate Change.
‘Key concerns in Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill, 2021’
As per LIFE, following are the biggest shortcoming of the amendment:
- The amendment does not mention any provision for protecting, conservation of biodiversity, or increasing local communities’ stake in sustainable use.
- The amendment mainly intends to focus on benefits to the Ayush Industry.
- There is not even one provision in the proposed amendment which aims to enhance either the level of protection of biodiversity or in making the Nagoya Protocol implemented in its true letter and spirit.
The Nagoya Protocol is an environment protection convention which came into force on October 12, 2014. As per the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the objective of the Nagoya Protocol is to set an international, legally binding framework to promote a transparent and effective implementation of the access and benefit sharing concept at the regional, national and local level.