This presentation gives a crisp overview of the Role of IPR in Biodiversity Conservation.

1. Role of IPR in Biodiversity Conservation
IIS (Deemed to be University)
Jaipur
Submitted to: Submitted by:
Dr. Sreemoyee Chatterjee Aparajita Sharma
Associate Professor MSc Biotech
Dept. of Biotech Sem IV

2. Biological Diversity Act, 2002
• India became part of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in the year
1992, to promote biodiversity and its conservation as well sharing of benefits
by the use of genetic resources. To comply with the decisions that were made
by the Convention, India passed a law called the Biodiversity Act, 2002.
• The Biological Diversity Act, 2002 was passed by the parliament of India to
protect biodiversity and facilitate the sustainable management of biological
resources with the local communities.
• The Act’s main objective is to ensure the conservation of biological diversity,
sustainable use of its components and fair usage of its resources in order to
prevent overuse or eventual destruction of biodiversity.

3. Biological Diversity Act,2002
(Features)
• Regulation of access to biological resources of the country
• Conservation and sustainability of biological diversity
• Protecting the knowledge of local communities regarding
biodiversity
• Secure sharing of benefits with local people as conservers of
biological resources and holders of knowledge and
information relating to the use of biological resources
• Protection and rehabilitation of threatened species
• Involvement of institutions of state governments in the broad
scheme of the implementations of the Biological Diversity Act
through the establishment of dedicated committees

4. Definitions
(Biological Diversity Act, 2002)
• Biological Diversity: means the variability among living organisms from all
sources and the ecological complexes of which they are part and includes
diversity within species or between species and of eco-systems [chapter I
Clause 2b].
• Biological resources: means plants, animals and microorganisms or parts
thereof, their genetic material and by –products with actual or potential
use or value but does not include human genetic material [Chapter I
Clause 2c].
• Intellectual Property Rights (IPR): rights to ideas and information, which
are used in new inventions or processes. These rights enable the holder to
exclude imitators from marketing such inventions or processes for
specified period of time; in exchange the holder is required to disclose the
formula or idea behind the product/process.

5. History of IPR and Biodiversity
• United Kingdom: Plant Breeders Rights
• In 1961, a “ Union Internationale Pour la Protection Des Obtentions
Vegetales”(UPOV-International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of
Plants) was established in Geneva for coordinating the intercountry
implementation of PBR. Although the Convention was signed in Paris in 1961,it
came into force only in 1968. It was revised in Geneva in 1972,1978,and 1991.
The1978 Act came into effect in 1981. To be eligible for protection, varieties have
to be:
i. Distinct from the existing, commonly known varieties
ii. Sufficiently homogenous /uniform
iii. Stable and
iv. New in the sense that they must not have been commercialized prior to certain
dates established by reference to the date of application for protection.

6. Indian Scenario: Biodiversity

7. Legislation
• Indian Patent (Second Amendment) Act, 2002 and the Biological
Diversity Bill, 2002: duration of the term of patent has been extended to
20 years for all product and process (under the existing Act of section 53
as well as those included in the present bill) patents. Now microorganisms
will be patentable subject in India.
• New plant varieties will get PBR certification in India as India has joined
recently in UPOV (1978 Act).
• Plant Protection Bill to develop a sui generis system (a system of its own).
A sui generis system is a system for the protection of plant varieties that is
chosen by the Member, and can be designed to accommodate the
particular needs of that Member. Members can also choose a combination
of patents and sui generis protection.

8. Impact of IPR on Biodiversity
• How intellectual property rights play a role in biodiversity cannot be estimated.
Crops and plants are all vulnerable to pests and any sort of disease that can affect
them, to survive they have to evolve; in this case, they have to be genetically
diverse to survive. How these are conserved and modified is of concern
worldwide.
• Farmers modify their plants and adapt to plants that are commercially viable
seeds, sometimes government initiatives also cause the farmers to adapt to
various types of seeds which are uniform. Commercial farming leads to situations
such as soil erosion, the intellectual property laws in a way promote this and
encourages commercial farming regardless of situations that arise.
• The development of biological diversity depends on the formal and community
systems and to achieve this the policymakers should concentrate on transfer of
technology so that biodiversity can be protected and not destroyed, so there
should be more stringent rules related to research and commercial purposes, as
the main aim of protecting biodiversity is for the benefit of humans and should not
be in the negative.

9. THANK YOU