National Biodiversity Authority disburses Rs 1.19 crore to 29 State Biodiversity Boards under Access and Benefit Sharing

18 October 2026

The National Biodiversity Authority has disbursed Rs 1.19 crore under the Access and Benefit Sharing mechanism to 29 State Biodiversity Boards and one Union Territory Biodiversity Council. The amount represents contributions received from companies for research and commercial utilisation of agricultural biological resources, covering maize, rice, pearl millet and cotton. Allocations were determined in proportion to the estimated cultivation areas of the respective biological resources, using agricultural statistics from the Unified Portal for Agricultural Statistics. Maharashtra received the largest share at Rs 19,46,149, followed by Rajasthan at Rs 13,97,525 and Madhya Pradesh at Rs 13,32,250, with a total of Rs 1,18,61,655. The funds are to be used only for activities specified under Section 32(2) of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002. The Authority has so far disbursed Rs 86 crore realised from the agriculture sector and more than Rs 203 crore in all. The release comes ahead of the seventeenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity at Yerevan, Armenia, from 19 to 30 October 2026.