The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) recently published insights gleaned from the First National Report on the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS).
The MoEFCC had submitted this national report to the secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) on February 27, 2026.
The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization pertains to the CBD adopted globally in 1992.
However, the national report is difficult to follow, and the ministry hopes that the insights published now will help strengthen institutional coordination and increase awareness among stakeholder in the future.
The insights include a set of 12 case studies where ABS has been implemented well and benefitted communities in the country. The information about many of these cases was not available in the public domain in much detail before this.
These include the case where a medicinal plant Cocculus hirsutus was accessed from forest areas of Chhindwara district in Madhya Pradesh by M/s. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. in 2017. The company believed that plant had the potential to treat dengue. The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) set an upfront payment of Rs 4,50,000 under the ABS Regulations, 2014 disregarding the request for waiver by Sun Pharma. This agreement was executed on January 24, 2019, when the company paid Rs 4,50,000 to the Authority. In accordance with the ABS Regulations, 95 per cent of this money, amounting to Rs 4,27,500, was transferred to the Madhya Pradesh Minor Forest Produce Cooperative Federation in 2020 for conservation and community development activities. The remaining was retained by NBA.
Another case in the report is that of access to agricultural residues from Narrau Village, Akrabad (Kaul Taluk), Aligarh district, Uttar Pradesh, by Indian Oil Corporation Limited for research to improve bioethanol production. For this, an upfront payment of Rs 18,60,000 was determined by NBA. Of this, Rs 17,67,000/ was released to the Uttar Pradesh State Biodiversity Board and Rs 46,500.00 each was retained by the NBA and the state biodiversity board (SBB) towards administrative charges.
Other case studies include the recent pay off to the people in Dapur village of Maharashtra for sharing soil samples to identify a potential microorganism having industrial application and commercialisation of probiotics. M/s. Advanced Enzyme Technologies Limited paid Rs 71,25,641 as benefit sharing.
However, these are just some of the many agreements that have been made in India.
The report puts down that between November 1, 2017, and December 31, 2025, 12,830 approvals were granted under the ABS framework. Of these, the NBA granted 5,913 approvals and 6,917 approvals were granted by SBBs/ Union Territory Biodiversity Councils. In addition, India has made a significant global contribution through the Access and Benefit Sharing Clearing-House, publishing 3,556 Internationally Recognised Certificates of Compliance, which account for 60 per cent of the global issuance. Overall, these agreements have resulted in the realisation of a total of Rs 216.31 crore by the NBA of which Rs 139.69 crore has been disbursed to benefit claimers. There is no place or repository where data on these can be accessed.
The report, not only provides comprehensive knowledge about ABS in the country, but it could also help states and the Centre take informed decision in line with national frameworks and the Nagoya Protocol on ABS.
The report has identified some challenges in implementation such as the need to strengthen digital systems for improved monitoring and data integration, to develop appropriate methodologies for valuation of biological resources and to enhance capacity at state and local levels. Addressing these issues will be necessary for further improving the effectiveness of the ABS framework.