New Delhi [India], October 25 (ANI): The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) has released Rs 1.36 crore to support grassroots biodiversity conservation in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.

The funds are meant to strengthen local efforts under India's biodiversity framework and ensure fair sharing of benefits from the commercial use of biological resources, according to a press release issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on Friday.

The amount will be routed through the State Biodiversity Boards of Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh to three Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs): Sakharwadi village in Satara district, Kunjirwadi village in Pune district, and Kasganj area in Etah district. Each committee will receive Rs 45.50 lakh.

The funds come from an Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) payment made by a company that had used microorganisms from soil and industrial effluent samples to produce Fructo-oligosaccharides, a commercial product.

The release of these funds is part of the legal framework under Section 44 of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, and relevant state biodiversity rules.

The release noted that the money will be used by the BMCs for local conservation and development work that helps protect biological resources while improving livelihoods. This includes activities such as biodiversity documentation, protection of traditional knowledge, and sustainable use of natural resources.

It also supports India's National Biodiversity Target 13 under the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) 2024-2030, which aligns with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework adopted at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity's COP-15 meeting.

The Ministry, in a separate press release on Saturday, also said that the NBA released Rs 18.3 lakh to Biodiversity Management Committees in UP and Sikkim. This is Access and Benefit Sharing amount operating under the framework of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002.

'The funds were seamlessly transferred through the respective State Biodiversity Boards directly to two BMCs, namely Narrau village Biodiversity Management Committee, located in Akrabad Kaul Taluk, Aligarh District, Uttar Pradesh and Biodiversity Management Committee in the Lampokhari Lake Area, Aritar, Sikkim,' the release said.

A company accessed crop materials within the Narrau village for producing fermentable compounds from lignocellulosic biomass. Another company accessed microorganisms from water and soil samples collected in the Lampokhari Lake area for research purposes.

By channeling these funds, the NBA is empowering these local custodians to play a role in biodiversity conservation and the sustainable management of their resources. (ANI)