India's Access and Benefit Sharing framework demonstrates that conservation can be financially self-sustaining. Examine in light of recent disbursements.

Q. India's Access and Benefit Sharing framework demonstrates that conservation can be financially self-sustaining. Examine in light of recent disbursements. (15 marks, 250-350 words)

Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS), operationalised under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, requires commercial users of biological resources to share gains with their custodians. Recent disbursements show it can partly finance conservation, though not yet fully self-sustain it.

Evidence of a self-financing model - The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) has mobilised over Rs 266 crore since 2008 and disbursed around Rs 145 crore, with Rs 21.26 crore realised in FY 2025-26 [1]. - Funds recycle directly into conservation: NBA sanctioned Rs 82 lakh to the Andhra Pradesh Biodiversity Board to raise Red Sanders saplings from benefit-sharing collections [2]. - Reach is broad — 10,500+ Biodiversity Management Committees across 23 States and 4 UTs, plus farmers and forest departments [1].

Institutional and legal strengthening - A three-tier architecture — NBA (Sec. 8) → State Boards (Sec. 22) → BMCs (Sec. 41) with People's Biodiversity Registers — embeds the model in local self-government [3]. - The Biological Diversity (Amendment) Act, 2023 clarified access rules, driving a surge in bio-resource-linked IPR filings and widening the compliance base [4]. - The VCS-I-ABS, the world's first voluntary ABS certification scheme, incentivises industry compliance through market credibility [5].

Limits to self-sustainability - Average annual realisation of roughly Rs 14.75 crore is modest against national conservation expenditure [1]. - Collections are concentrated in a few resources and sectors, making revenues volatile. - Uneven BMC capacity and poor-quality PBRs weaken the last-mile link between money and monitored outcomes [3]. - The 2023 shift from criminal to monetary penalties eases compliance but raises deterrence concerns [4].

ABS thus supplies a genuine, rights-based conservation revenue stream that supplements — rather than replaces — budgetary funding. Strengthening BMC capacity, digitising PBRs and expanding certification can scale collections. Realising Article 48A and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework ultimately depends on making the custodian the beneficiary, which ABS has begun to achieve.

(~320 words)

Sources: 1. Biodiversity Pays Back: India's ABS Framework Delivers Rs 145 Crore to Beneficiaries (PIB, 2026) — Rs 266 crore mobilised, Rs 145 crore disbursed, Rs 21.26 crore in FY 2025-26, 10,500+ BMCs across 23 States and 4 UTs, average annual realisation 2. NBA sanctions Rs 82 Lakh for Red Sanders Conservation in Andhra Pradesh under ABS (PIB) — reinvestment of benefit-sharing funds into species conservation 3. India's Biodiversity: Commitments and Achievements (PIB) — three-tier NBA/SBB/BMC structure, PBRs, BMC capacity 4. Regulatory reforms under Biological Diversity (Amendment) Act, 2023 lead to surge in IPR filings (PIB) — clarified access rules, IPR surge, civil penalty regime 5. MoEFCC and NBA launch world's first dedicated VCS-I-ABS (PIB) — voluntary certification incentivising industry compliance