Indian biodiversity regulation changes may enable exploitation

Changes in Indian biodiversity regulations might allow for exploitation

A bill passed last week by India's Parliament, according to legal experts and environmental activists, may increase commercial exploitation of the nation's ecosystems and hurt the populations who depend on them.

The groundbreaking Biological Diversity Act of 2002 has been amended to simplify the regulatory procedures for the commercial use of trees, plants, and other biological resources in India as well as traditional knowledge based on those resources, facilitating patenting and product sales. Violations of the law are also decriminalised by the legislation.

In order to comply with the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity and to control attempts by foreign companies to patent conventional plant-based goods, such as turmeric and neem oil for use in wound healing and fungicides, respectively, India's Parliament passed the original Biological Diversity Act in 2002. The National Biodiversity Authority was created by the legislation, which entered into force in 2004, and is required to give its approval before any research or commercial usage of biological resources from India is done by outside organisations. Additionally, it mandated that all domestic and international businesses distribute the earnings from finished products to the communities where knowledge and raw materials originated.

The legislation was designed by lawmakers to make sure that businesses and researchers utilised biological resources responsibly and to reinvest funds in local communities for conservation. Legal authorities in India claim that the law's execution has fallen well short of its lofty objectives. The COVID-19 outbreak derailed plans in a 2016 court case that mandated companies provide 0.1% to 0.5% of their revenues back to communities in order to improve implementation.

Environmentalists worry that the recent modifications, which were approved by both chambers of the Indian Parliament last week, might further erode the legislation. The law makes it easier to patent items made from natural resources and exempts research and survey work from having to share earnings with the community. Additionally, it exempts practitioners of many traditional Indian remedies from licensing and benefit-sharing obligations, as well as any product that employs grown plants or is based on "codified traditional knowledge," which encompasses all knowledge referenced by a 1940 pharmaceutical act. (Science)

WHO to host inaugural global summit on traditional medicine to expedite universal health access

The Traditional Medicine Global Summit will be held on August 17 and 18, 2023, in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India, by the World Health Organization (WHO). The Summit, which is being co-hosted by the Government of India, will examine how traditional, complementary, and integrative medicine can address urgent health issues and advance global health and sustainable development.

The WHO Director-General and Regional Directors, G20 health ministers, and high-level invitees from countries in all six of WHO's regions are among the high-level participants. Participants will include scientists, traditional healers, medical professionals, members of civil society organizations, and health workers.

The Summit will investigate how to scale up scientific developments and fulfill the potential of evidence-based knowledge in the application of conventional medicine for people's health and wellbeing globally. Technical talks on research, evidence, and learning; policy, data, and regulation; innovation, and digital health; as well as biodiversity, equity, and Indigenous knowledge, will be led by scientists and other experts.

The identification and sharing of best practices, initiatives, and legislative frameworks on the protection of traditional knowledge, innovation, and access, as well as fair benefit-sharing by countries, will be driven by the Summit's focus on sustainable biodiversity management in the face of the climate crisis.  The Summit will center its discussions on the potential growth of traditional medicine's economic impact on the world, indigenous knowledge-based innovations in healthcare, the application of intellectual property laws and regulations, and the use and promotion of indigenous and ancestral medicine through intercultural dialogues to support community health. (World Health Organization)

SC sets aside NGT order on Najafgarh lake rejuvenation

The Supreme Court has overturned a National Green Tribunal (NGT) ruling that assigned the task of revitalizing the Najafgarh lake to a commission led by the lieutenant governor of Delhi. Justices Abhay S. Oka and Sanjay Karol's bench made the observation that the NGT had dismissed an appeal brought by the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) in its February 16 judgment without considering the merits, stating that the tribunal will address the issue in another case.

The nonprofit organization INTACH promotes heritage preservation and awareness. The NGO has asked the Delhi and Haryana governments for guidance on how to designate the Najafgarh lake as a water body or wetland. The Delhi administration was asked to respond to the top court's request on July 6 regarding the argument made by the NGO INTACH. The top court set aside the NGT's order on procedural grounds and said that the INTACH case should have been considered by the tribunal along with all other petitions pertaining to the rejuvenation of Najafgarh lake.

The matter regarding the notification of the Najafgarh Jheel (lake) as a wetland and subsequent protection thereof was reduced to a simple case of pollution alone, according to attorney Akash Vashishtha representing INTACH, and the tribunal delegated the entire matter to a committee headed by the L-G for areas in Delhi and to the Chief Secretary, Haryana. (The Tribune)

NGT takes suo motu cognisance of NLCIL water pollution

NLC India Ltd (NLCIL), formerly known as Neyveli Lignite Corporation, is accused of polluting groundwater and surface waters, according to the National Green Tribunal's (NGT) southern bench. The case was filed in accordance with the The New Indian Express report titled "Huge Pollution risk in 8 km around NLCIL" on August 9.

The NGT bench, which was made up of expert member K Satyagopal and judicial member Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana, accepted the case and sent notices to the Cuddalore district collector, the union environment ministry, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, the managing director of NLCIL, and the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board. The next hearing on the matter in question has been scheduled on August 28.

Numerous villages in the vicinity of NLC have claimed serious ground- and surface-water pollution. The mercury levels at Vadakkuvellur village's Tholkappiyar Nagar were 250 times higher than allowed. It was found that several samples taken within an 8 km radius of the NLC mines and thermal power plants contained elevated concentrations of metals such aluminium, fluoride, iron, manganese, magnesium, mercury, and selenium.

The information was gathered as part of a thorough assessment titled "POWERing Pollution: The Environmental and Pollution Impacts of Thermal Power Stations and Mining Operating in Neyveli & Parangipettai," which was carried out in the Neyveli region with the help of neighbourhood residents by the Chennai-based environmental advocacy group Poovulagin Nanbargal and Manthan Adhyayan Kendra.

NLC, however, asserted in a written statement to TNIE that all effluent characteristics are within allowable bounds. Additionally, NLCIL said that it was using 100% of the fly ash produced by delivering it to brick and cement manufacturers in accordance with fly ash gazette notifications issued by the Union Environment Ministry. (The New Indian Express)

Cauvery water row: TN approaches SC seeking to direct Karnataka government for release of 24000 cusecs 

In the Cauvery water dispute, the Tamil Nadu government has petitioned the Supreme Court to order the Karnataka government to immediately release 24000 cusecs from its reservoirs beginning on August 14, 2023 in order to fulfill the urgent needs of standing crops. The Cauvery delta's agricultural activities are struggling due to a lack of water, and the crops are experiencing water stress, which will impact agricultural output.

According to the plea, the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) reduced the cusecs from 15,000 to 10,000 (or 0.864 TMC per day) on August 11, 2023, which were to be released by the Karnataka government for the following 15 days from the KRS and Kabini reservoirs to be realized at Billigundulu, but even this hasn't been done.

“14.913 lakh acres (net area) are dependent on Mettur reservoir for irrigation, which in turn depends on the flows realized at Billigundulu, based on the flows released by Karnataka from KRS and Kabini reservoirs, which gets a major portion of inflows during South West Monsoon. During this monsoon period, both Kuruvai and Samba crops are sown and transplanted in the Cauvery Delta. Hence, the release of water from Mettur during South West Monsoon is crucial. About 4 million farmers and about 10 million labourers both directly and indirectly depend on Mettur water for their livelihood. The agricultural operations in the Cauvery delta are suffering without much water and the crops are facing water stress, which would affect the agricultural production,” as per the plea.

In light of this, the state has asked the supreme court to enforce its judgement from February 16, 2018 ordering the Karnataka government to provide Cauvery waters to the form at the designated spot on a monthly timetable.

Additionally, TN prayed that the Karnataka government be instructed to ensure the stipulated water release for September, make up the shortfall of 28.849 TMC during the current irrigation year, and also direct CWMA to ensure that the directions given to Karnataka are followed and that the stipulated monthly releases are implemented for the remainder of the current water year. (The New Indian Express)

This is a roundup of important policy matters from August 1 - August 15, 2023.