Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) Potential Estimation: Methodology and Empirical Results

As a party to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), India’s initiatives in fulfilling its objectives were appreciable. India ratified the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) in 2014 and implemented the Protocol through various legal, administrative, policy, and institutional measures. The Biological Diversity Act (BD Act) proposes the ABS provisions when users access biological resources and associated traditional knowledge with commercial intent. India (National Biodiversity Authority and State Biodiversity Boards) has mobilized an ABS amount of Rs. 1600 Million so far. However, we don’t have any idea about the ABS potential of the country. To date, no one has attempted its estimation (not only in India, but elsewhere also) as it is a cumbersome and complex task. A majority of the bio-prospecting industries in the country do not comply with the BD Act or share the benefits. Hence, a significant portion of finance (ABS amount) that is to be assigned for biodiversity conservation is being lost for the country. In this context, the estimation of the ABS potential will enhance the scope of ABS as an effective financial solution for biodiversity conservation and help the Government take appropriate policy measures. This paper attempts to carry out the ABS potential estimation in one of the States (Kerala) in India. As per the “ABS Guidelines - 2014”, ABS can be availed of either from the biological resources-based industries: i.e., either based on the biological resources’ purchased price by the industries, based on the raw-material cost, prescribed as 3–5%, or based on the ex-factory sale value of the product minus government taxes, where biological resources are involved in production fully or partially (0.1–0.5%). Based on biological resources’ purchase price by the industry, the ABS potential of Kerala is Rs. 1895 Million per annum. However, the estimation based on the annual turnover or output value of biological resources-based manufacturing in the state is Rs. 1478 Million annually. This is a preliminary attempt at ABS estimation based on the available data and the methodology designed by the author in consultation with experts. However, this ABS potential estimation process/approach would have many limitations, which should be debated further and taken into consideration in the future.