Environment and Disaster Management › Biodiversity governance
हिन्दी — Read in HindiBiodiversity and wildlife law in India
India's biodiversity and wildlife law and the bodies that run it: the Biological Diversity Act and its three tiers, access and benefit sharing, zoos and animal welfare. Prelims has asked about Biodiversity Management Committees and what Schedule I protection means.
Foundation note: The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972: the schedules
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Biological Diversity Act, 2002
Copy link to Biological Diversity Act, 2002Prelims and Mains
The Biological Diversity Act, 2002 is the law by which India gives effect to the Convention on Biological Diversity at home.
- It splits the work across three tiers, with the committee in the village at the bottom of it.
- The Biological Diversity (Amendment) Act, 2023 made most offences civil rather than criminal, and Rules followed in 2024.
Who does what
National level
- National Biodiversity Authority, a statutory body in Chennai
- Decides access by foreign entities and fixes benefit sharing
State and UT level
- State Biodiversity Boards and UT Biodiversity Councils
- Regulate commercial use by Indian entities
Local level
- Over 2.76 lakh Biodiversity Management Committees, set up by local bodies
- Prepare People's Biodiversity Registers
What changed
6 Sep 2026
- The Environment Minister has asked States to make their Biodiversity Management Committees functional rather than merely constituted.
- He also asked that People's Biodiversity Registers become dynamic planning instruments rather than one time records.
- State rules are to be aligned with the 2023 amendment and the 2024 Rules.
Access and benefit sharing
Copy link to Access and benefit sharingPrelims and Mains
Access and benefit sharing is the promise of the Biological Diversity Act that anyone who profits from a biological resource pays something back to the place it came from.
Where benefit sharing money goes
User pays
A user of a biological resource or associated knowledge pays the National Biodiversity Authority
To the States
85 to 90 per cent passes to the State Biodiversity Board, under the Biological Diversity Rules, 2024
To the holders
The board disburses it to Biodiversity Management Committees, farmers and traditional knowledge holders
How the money moves
- A user pays the National Biodiversity Authority, and under the Biological Diversity Rules, 2024, 85 to 90 per cent passes to the State Biodiversity Board.
- The board disburses it to Biodiversity Management Committees, farmers and traditional knowledge holders.
- A board must spend what it receives on conservation, People's Biodiversity Registers, Biodiversity Heritage Sites and community livelihoods.
Where it comes from
- Since 2008 the Authority has realised over ₹266 crore.
- Red Sanders is the largest source, followed by seeds and by pharmaceuticals and AYUSH.
- Where no provider can be traced, the money goes to State boards in proportion to the area under the crop if the source region is known, and otherwise stays in the National Biodiversity Fund.
What changed
5 Sep 2026
- Payouts crossed ₹200 crore.
- Much of the recent money came from seed companies paying for vegetable seed bought in open markets, and was shared among State boards by crop area rather than reaching a community directly.
UPSC has asked
- Prelims 2023: Biodiversity Management Committees, the Nagoya Protocol and collection fees
Further reading: The Nagoya Protocol on access and benefit sharing (CBD)
National Board for Wildlife
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The National Board for Wildlife is the apex statutory wildlife body under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, chaired by the Prime Minister with the Environment Minister as vice chairperson.
- Its Standing Committee gives the wildlife clearance that any project inside a protected area needs.
- Such a project must pass two separate gates: environmental clearance under the Environment Impact Assessment Notification, 2006, and wildlife clearance routed through the State Board for Wildlife.
What changed
8 Jul 2026New
- Retired forest officers have moved the Delhi High Court, saying the Standing Committee approved more than 97 per cent of proposals to divert or denotify protected land between 2014 and 2026.
- They also said the full Board met in 2025 after a gap of 13 years.
Notifying threatened species under Section 38
Copy link to Notifying threatened species under Section 38Prelims
Section 38 of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 lets the Centre, consulting the State, notify a species on the verge of extinction as threatened.
- Notification regulates or prohibits the species' collection and provides for its rehabilitation; the power may be delegated to States.
- State Biodiversity Boards identify candidates and recommend them.
What changed
26 Jun 2026BriefThe National Biodiversity Authority released a standard operating procedure for notifying threatened species, from scientific assessment through notification to recovery plans and review. The Environment Ministry has notified 159 plant and 173 animal species as threatened. PIB, 26 Jun 2026: National Biodiversity Authority Releases SOP for Scientific Identification and Notification of Threatened Species by States and Union Territories (opens in a new tab)