Kerala: Companies cold-shoulder biodiversity act

Thiruvananthapuram: Three years after the guidelines on access and benefit-sharing related to the National Biodiversity Act (NBA) were notified, one company – Oushadhi, a pharma company under the state government – has come forward to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Kerala State Biodiversity Board (KSBB). Though KSBB had sent letters to over 2500 companies after the 2014 notification, of which only 155 companies have registered, they had not yet signed any MoU, according to Board officials.  The Board could have moved court against the non-compliance of the companies, but instead decided to take the path of negotiation. “Among those who have not complied, there are major Ayurvedic firms. We could have taken action against them. However we have decided to move forward with the support of all companies,” said KSBB chairperson Oommen V Oommen.

Oushadhi, meanwhile, is finalising the conditions of the MoU. “There will be a meeting next week, to discuss whether we need to pay a lumpsum or a certain percentage of the annual turnover every year,” said its General Manager K Sasidharan. Companies which access biological resources and associated knowledge for commercial utilisation, as per guidelines notified by the National Biodiversity Authority in 2014, are bound to share benefits of the utilisation with the national, state or local biodiversity funds. There are various options for sharing benefits. For example, it can be an upfront payment, one-time payment, milestone payment, or can even be non-monetary benefits like providing institutional capacity building or transfer of technology, to name two.