Source: Economic and Political Weekly 7 October 2012 | EN India
needs to improve implementation of its Biodiversity Act. Ten
years after introducing a Biodiversity Act, India is yet to put
it to serious use although several large "development" projects
have invited controversy for their likely impact on
biodiversity, say Shalini Bhutani and Kanchi Kohli. A National
Biodiversity Authority (NBA) was created in 2003, but the
government is not bound by its recommendations. The Act was
meant to "provide for the conservation of biological diversity,"
in line with the primary objective of the Convention of
Biodiversity (CBD). But, given the reality in which it operates,
the question is whether the Act will come anywhere near
effecting biodiversity justice. The central government is
required by the CBD and the Act to develop national strategies,
plans and programmes for conservation and sustainable use of
biological diversity. Between 2000 and 2003, a civil society
group was commissioned to help prepare India’s Natio