Biodiversity benefit-sharing disbursements cross ₹200 crore
The latest ₹8.23 crore allocation uses crop cultivation area to distribute funds where the original biological-resource providers could not be traced.
The National Biodiversity Authority says cumulative Access and Benefit-Sharing disbursements have exceeded ₹200 crore.
Its latest sanction allocates ₹8.23 crore to 27 State Biodiversity Boards and five Union Territory councils from commercial access to bitter gourd, okra, chilli and onion resources. Because individual providers could not be traced, the allocation uses crop cultivation area, with Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra receiving the largest shares.
Why it matters
Benefit sharing is intended to return part of the value created from biological resources to conservation and community-oriented activity. The mechanism matters to companies that use biological inputs as well as the communities and institutions responsible for conserving them.
SCULTRA point of view
Disbursement is an intermediate result. Public accountability needs project-level reporting on use of funds, conservation outcomes, community benefit and the treatment of cases where original providers cannot be identified.
Limitations
The release reports sanctions and cumulative disbursement but not audited utilisation, recipient-level outcomes or whether cultivation area is an equitable proxy for the original resource providers.
Source: Press Information Bureau / National Biodiversity Authority, 5 September 2026, 18:33 IST.