National Biodiversity Authority Disburses Rs. 6.67 Crore ABS Funds Across 11 Cotton-Growing States

New Delhi, Jul 23 (KNN) The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) has released Rs 6.67 crore under the Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) mechanism for biodiversity conservation, sustainable utilisation of biological resources and livelihood enhancement in 11 cotton-growing States.

The amount was allocated from Rs 7.62 crore realised from Bayer Science & Innovation Pvt. Ltd. (formerly Monsanto Holdings Pvt. Ltd.) for research involving 25,431 varieties of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum).

The funds have been distributed among Maharashtra (Rs 2.41 crore), Gujarat (Rs 1.38 crore), Telangana (Rs 1.06 crore), Karnataka (Rs 0.40 crore), Rajasthan (Rs 0.36 crore), Madhya Pradesh (Rs 0.31 crore), Andhra Pradesh (Rs 0.23 crore), Haryana (Rs 0.23 crore), Odisha (Rs 0.14 crore), Punjab (Rs 0.09 crore) and Tamil Nadu (Rs 0.06 crore). The remaining Rs 0.95 crore has been earmarked for the NBA.

The allocation is based on the geographical distribution of cotton cultivation and the area under cotton cultivation in each State, using data from the All India Coordinated Research Project on Cotton (AICRP), ICAR.

The funds will support on-farm and ex-situ conservation, updating of People's Biodiversity Registers, ecosystem restoration, Biodiversity Heritage Sites, traditional knowledge documentation, biodiversity research, digital biodiversity databases, capacity building and livelihood enhancement.

The NBA said the allocation follows a transparent mechanism for distributing ABS benefits in cases where individual benefit claimers cannot be identified due to complex supply chains. With this release, total ABS funds released by the NBA have reached Rs 152.24 crore.

(KNN Bureau)