NBA Designates CMLRE and ARI as National Biodiversity Repositories — India's Repository Network Reaches 20

Why in News: The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) notified two new institutions as national repositories under Section 39 of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, bringing India’s total count to 20 repositories. The new designations are the CMLRE in Kochi and the Agharkar Research Institute in Pune.

What Are National Biodiversity Repositories?

National Biodiversity Repositories are designated institutions that systematically preserve biological materials (specimens, cultures, genetic material, documentation) for long-term conservation, scientific research, and regulatory compliance.

Under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, the NBA can designate institutions as national repositories if they meet standards for:

• Scientific documentation and taxonomy
• Long-term preservation of biological material
• Traceability of collection provenance (where specimens were collected)
• Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) compliance

The repositories serve as:

• Reference collections — scientific standards for species identification
• ABS documentation — provenance records required under the Nagoya Protocol
• Biopiracy prevention — India can assert prior art if biological resources are used commercially without consent

The Two New Repositories

1. CMLRE — Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology, Kochi, Kerala

• Ministry: Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES)
• Referral Centre: Bhavasagara Referral Centre
• Holdings: 3,500+ taxonomically identified voucher specimens of marine organisms
• Significance: India has a 7,516 km coastline and an EEZ of 2.02 million sq km — marine biodiversity documentation is a priority
• Context: CMLRE also conducts deep-sea research relevant to polymetallic nodule surveys and marine ecology

2. ARI — Agharkar Research Institute, Pune, Maharashtra

• Autonomous institution under Department of Science and Technology (DST)
• Collection: MACS Collection of Microorganisms (MACS-Pune) — including bacterial, fungal, and yeast cultures
• Significance: Microbial repositories are critical for pharmaceutical research, bioprospecting, and industrial biotechnology — areas where biopiracy risk is highest

Legal Framework: Biological Diversity Act 2002 and Nagoya Protocol

Biological Diversity Act, 2002

India’s primary law on biodiversity conservation and ABS (Access and Benefit Sharing).

Nagoya Protocol

The Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing (2010) is a supplementary agreement to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) that provides a transparency framework for ABS.

Key elements:

• Prior Informed Consent (PIC) — must be obtained from provider country before accessing biological resources
• Mutually Agreed Terms (MAT) — conditions for benefit sharing must be agreed in advance
• IRCC (Internationally Recognised Certificate of Compliance) — issued when access occurs legally
• India ratified the Nagoya Protocol in 2012

National repositories support Nagoya Protocol compliance by maintaining provenance-traced collections that establish prior documentation of India’s biological resources.

India’s Repository Network: Context

With 20 repositories, India now has a more comprehensive system — though gaps remain in documenting northeast India’s plant diversity and Andaman-Nicobar deep-sea biodiversity.

UPSC Relevance

GS Paper 3 — Environment and Ecology

• Biological Diversity Act 2002 — structure, NBA, SBB, BMC
• Nagoya Protocol — ABS framework, PIC, MAT, IRCC
• Biopiracy — cases (turmeric, neem, basmati), India’s defensive publications
• Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) — 3 objectives: conservation, sustainable use, ABS

Mains Angle

“India’s national biodiversity repository network is a critical tool for preventing biopiracy and ensuring equitable benefit sharing. Examine the legal framework and implementation gaps.” (GS3)

Facts Corner