Dr. Atul Kumar Gupta, IFS
ProMASS Feature Service: Sep 04, 2016: The Biological Diversity Act, 2002 (BDA) has three main objectives, namely, conservation of biodiversity, sustainable use of its (biodiversity) components, and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the use of genetic resources. As per the BDA, the ‘biological resources’ means plants, animals and micro-organisms or parts thereof, their genetic material and by-products (excluding value added products) with actual or potential use or value, but does not include human genetic material. The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) has come up with the Guidelines on Access to Biological Resources and Associated Knowledge and Benefits Sharing Regulations, 2014 vide which the ‘benefit claimers’ are authorized to share the benefits from the persons.
It is a fact that in most cases the ‘benefit claimers’ are the poorest of the poor who share habitations with biological resources and the ‘commercial users’ are the traders/commercial institutions/organizations. While the ‘benefit claimers’, as owners and possessers of rich resources are illeterate, poor, unorganized, lives on subsistence economy, the ‘commercial users’ are organized, literate, resourceful, wealthy and live on market economy. For ‘benefit claimers’, a quick sale money on daily basis is all what they rely most on while dealing with the natural biological resources to get one square meal on a given day. Contrary to this, the commercial users have well thought out economic plans both for present and future investments for enhanced profits on each executed transaction. This hiatus in the economic gains between the ‘benefit claimers’ and ‘commercial users’ has always been a cause of conern and in absence of any mechanism to set this malaise right, has been on the rise perpetually – thus pushing the ‘benefit claimers’ more and more at the mercy of the ‘commercial users’.
It is in this reference that the Access & Benefits Sharing (ABS) mechanism and guidelines aim at setting this disparity right by ensuring equitable sharing of the economic benefits accruing out of commercial utilization of biological resources between the poor ‘benefit claimers’ and resourceful ‘commercial users’. ABS promotes biodiversity as a community asset, and support biodiversity-based businesses in an effective and sustainable manner. ABS provides for mechanisms to access biological or genetic resources and share benefits between ‘users’ and the ‘providers’.
Owing to its unique geographical and topographical location, Tripura display opulence in natural biological resources and more than 80% of its populations are acting as ‘benefit claimers’ as they are the possessors of the natural biological resources for meeting their day-to-day livelihood needs to sustain their lives.Practically every village has some or the other natural biological resources which is worth for its commercial utilization. However, the economic benefits out of commercial uses of those biological resources either do not reach to them or its distribution is not equitable vis-à-vis ‘commercial users’.
Some of the most common biological resources, which are commercially traded from Tripura to outside states mostly in raw form are bamboo (various species), gandhaki, phooljhadu, wild elaichi, haritaki, amlaki, mucuna, supari, til, cotton, umbrella sticks, bahera, kalamegh, satmuli, agar, etc. As per the present scenario in the state the real economic benefits of these commercial natural bio resources do not equitably reach to JFMC members, tribal villagers, forest dwellers, villagers, etc. who are the main custodians/collectors of these resources and together constitute ‘benefit claimers’. Those who utilize such resources commercially through value addition and earn the lion share of economic profits are mostly the end-users or commercial business houses, as traders or companies within and outside Tripura. As per information gathered through studies, the natural bio-resources are transported from Tripura to places such as Assam, Shillong, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, New Delhi, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharasthra, Karnataka, to name only few important ones.
After the implementation of the BDA through the Tripura Biodiversity Board, there now exists a mechanism to set right this polarity of inequitable sharing of economic benefits. The TBB has facilitated constitution of village level institutions called Biodiversity Management Committee (BMC) who are empowered under BDA and TBB Rules to enlist and record all varied kinds of natural biological resources and their status found in the given local Panchayat area (village committees/gram Panchayats) in a People’s Biodiversity Register (PBR). These PBRs are documented involving the villagers, local schools, villagers having knowledge about village resources, local vaidyas, traditional knowledge possessors with expert and scientific inputs from the members of the three Expert Committees under the TBB (consisting of experts in agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, fishery, zoology, botany, taxonomist, social scientists, traditional knowledge experts, etc.). The BMCs are empowered through the BDA to steer the process of commercial utilization of such enlisted resources in authenticated PBR. The ABS Guidelines further empowers them to charge collection fee (1% for TBB and 2% for BMC of the total purchase value) and also a percentage share out of the total purchase price (1-3% if they purchaser is a trader, and 3-5% if the purchaser is a manufacturer) or out of total sale price (3-5%) profit earned by the commercial users from given natural resources. Besides, the BMC also has option to go for non-monetary benefits, such as, setting up value addition facilities for the resources, imparting training to the resource owners on cultivation and sustainable harvesting, introduction of technologies, etc.
The biggest advantage is that the TBB or the BMC are empowered to enter into an Agreement on ABS mechanism with the commercial users, where they can decide the purchase price taking into consideration of the actual market price of the given biological resources. This provision has completely undone the earlier arrangements where the purchase price used to be dictated by the traders or manufacturers – this is a huge departure from the earlier trend and now ensuring equitable benefit sharing between the ‘benefit claimers’ and the ‘commercial users’. The fund received as collection fee or as per cent of purchase price is deposited in the Local Biodiversity Fund of each BMC – it is a bank account being operated jointly by the Chairperson and member secretary of the given BMCs.
The TBB has so far constituted 263 village level and 40 Block level BMCs while 29 village BMCs are under constitution. All the BMCs have opened the Local Biodiversity Fund. A total of 222 PBRs have already been documented and 11 are under preparation. The TBB, with the help of UNEP-GEF-MoEF-ABS Project, which is under implementation since December 2014, has facilitated signing of ABS Agreement for 28 BMCs and many more are in the pipeline. More and more BMCs are now willing to adopt this system that is empowering them both institutionally and financially. The local JFMCs, villagers, tribal collectors, etc. are also joining hands with the BMCs in this process as they will get their due in more organized manner and based on much better pricing system. The biggest advantage is that the BMCs can now ensure sustainable harvesting keeping in view of the perennial economic gains and ecological safety-net as well.
Among 28 BMCs the agreement has been signed for a total of 14 different natural biological resources, namely, umbrella sticks (18 BMCs), broom grass (25 BMCs), gandhaki (24 BMCs), til (11 BMCs), bamboo (13 BMCs), cotton (9 BMCs), hartaki (6 BMCs), wild elaichi (7 BMCs), supari (23 BMCs), dry chilli (8 BMCs), tokma (14 BMCs), mucuna (9 BMCs), turmeric and bahera (1 BMC each); on an average 4-5 biological resources per BMC. The sale price has been decided through mutually agreed terms keeping in mind the prevailing market rates. In cases of gandhaki, wild cardamom, and phooljharu, the BMCs have decided to sale in semi-processed forms to fetch higher sale price.On an average, each BMC has signed trade agreement involving different natural bio-resources worth INR 2.00 to 2.15 lakhs for one year and that too against only 4-5 biological resources. This value is based on the trading being undertaken with the local traders. However, there lies vast scope to trade with the manufacturers outside the State as well to get more value for the given resources and with the companies involved in sale of finished products out of given natural biological resources to share the profits earned by them; this is in addition to the purchase values being paid by the local traders and local manufacturers to the BMCs.
The direct linking of biodiversity conservation with the economic gains at the very local level is a perfect example of “think globally and act locally”. The global Convention on the Biological Diversity (CBD) is finding its execution at the local village level with the involvement of poorest of the poor families as ‘benefit claimers’. This legal provision may be further strengthened by linking RoFR beneficiaries (getting right over forest land for cultivation), JFMCs, SHGs, private farmers, tribal collectors, local vaidyas and hakims etc. with the given BMC, who is institutionally, financially and administratively empowered enough to take control of the huge natural biological resources within its legal jurisdiction, both for the ecological security of the habitats and economic well-being of the poorest of the poor residents therein.
(The views expressed are author’s personal view)
