Access and Benefit Sharing: Turning Biodiversity into Fair and Sustainable Finance in India

Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) is emerging as one of India’s most effective biodiversity finance solutions, demonstrating how the use of biological resources can generate tangible financial benefits for conservation, local communities, and sustainable development.

Supported by UNDP’s Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN), India’s ABS mechanism has evolved into one of the most advanced and financially significant systems globally, translating biodiversity use into real finance flows for people and nature.

What is Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS)?

Access and Benefit Sharing is a principle under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). It ensures that when companies or individuals use biological resources—such as plants, microorganisms, or traditional knowledge- the benefits arising from that use are shared fairly with those who conserve and steward these resources.

In practice, ABS requires users of biodiversity to obtain authorisation and share both monetary and non-monetary benefits. These benefits are then channelled to local communities, farmers, and biodiversity institutions, creating incentives to conserve ecosystems while enabling sustainable economic activity.

Photo  1. Voluntary Certification Scheme logo adopted by the Quality Council of India

ABS as a Biodiversity Finance Solution in India

India has embedded ABS as a core biodiversity finance solution through its Biodiversity Finance Plan (BFP, 2019), which identifies ABS as a mechanism to mobilise domestic resources for biodiversity while increasing the share of collected funds that reach beneficiaries on the ground.

BIOFIN has supported the implementation of ABS in India by:

• Providing communication platforms to improve the understanding of ABS policies
• Supporting standard-setting and policy development
• Monitoring finance outcomes
• Supporting the development of a national digital platform for reporting and tracking ABS finance flows

Together, these efforts have strengthened ABS as a functioning finance solution rather than a purely regulatory tool.

Incentivising Compliance through Voluntary Certification

To further strengthen ABS implementation, BIOFIN facilitated a series of meetings organized by the Quality Council of India to develop a Voluntary Certification Scheme to Incentivize ABS (VCS-I-ABS).

The scheme recognizes and rewards businesses that depend on biological resources and/or associated knowledge and that have been authorized by the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) and its constituent bodies while fully complying with ABS legislation.

Developed by the Quality Council of India with approvals from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the NBA, the scheme positions India as the first Party to the CBD to launch a dedicated voluntary ABS certification. By offering market advantages—such as enhanced credibility, potential price premiums, and increased market share- the certification incentivizes sustainable practices, like global eco-labeling schemes. Certified businesses receive a registered trademark logo signalling ABS compliance to consumers, investors, and partners.

In 2024, a BIOFIN co-organized workshop in Telangana State initiated voluntary participation from five corporate entities to pilot the certification, marking an important step toward scaling ABS finance solutions.

Strengthening Transparency through Digital Innovation

BIOFIN is also supporting the development of an end-to-end national digital ABS platform to improve traceability and transparency across the ABS system in India.

The platform is designed to digitize the complete ABS workflow—from application submission, fee payment, and scrutiny to agreement execution, compliance monitoring, and automated routing and disbursement of benefit-sharing payments to State Biodiversity Boards (SBBs) and Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs). Integration with digital signature systems will further streamline implementation.

By making finance flows transparent and trackable, the platform aims to increase efficiency, accountability, and trust in ABS implementation.

Measurable Finance Outcomes for Biodiversity

These combined efforts have delivered significant finance outcomes.

As of 11 December 2025:

• Total ABS accruals reached ₹265.38 crore (US$29.5 million) in favour of the NBA
• Total disbursements from the NBA to State Biodiversity Boards exceeded ₹127 crore (US$14.1 million)

The acceleration of finance transfers has also resulted from addressing long-standing policy barriers, including the clearance of pending ABS liabilities—particularly those related to earlier Red Sanders auctions managed by forest departments.

Red Sanders: A Flagship ABS Case

Red Sanders (Pterocarpus santalinus), an endemic and high-value timber species, has become India’s single largest ABS revenue generator through regulated access, auctions, and exports of both naturally grown and cultivated material.

By November 2025, cumulative ABS payouts linked to Red Sanders crossed ₹101 crore (US$11.2 million). These funds have been disbursed to farmers, State Biodiversity Boards, and forest departments under NBA-administered ABS arrangements.

At least 216 individual farmers—198 in Andhra Pradesh and 18 in Tamil Nadu—have directly received ABS payments. Forest departments across Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Telangana have also benefited, supporting frontline protection, scientific forest management, and expansion of trees outside forests.

These outcomes build on earlier policy reforms, including the 2019 Directorate General of Foreign Trade decision allowing regulated exports of cultivated Red Sanders, which helped open legal markets that now feed ABS revenues.

Expanding Beyond Timber: Microorganisms and New Frontiers

Alongside Red Sanders, the NBA significantly stepped up ABS releases for other biological resources in 2025, particularly microorganisms used in probiotics, fermentable compounds, and fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS), as well as crop materials and aquatic microbiota.

Approximately 15 per cent of ABS applications now relate to microorganisms, underscoring their growing commercial importance. In 2025, ABS disbursements linked to microorganisms and crop genetic materials were made to the States of Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Sikkim, covering probiotics, bacillus-based products, lake microorganisms, and agricultural genetic resources. This diversification marks a shift beyond timber and medicinal plants toward emerging bioeconomy sectors.

Global Significance and the Way Forward

India is widely recognised as a global leader and pioneer in operationalising ABS at scale—particularly in terms of the volume and diversity of benefit-sharing transactions and the explicit routing of funds to decentralised institutions such as BMCs.

With total ABS disbursements exceeding ₹127 crore by December 2025, and one of the world’s most prominent species-level ABS cases delivering both conservation and livelihood outcomes, India likely ranks among the highest Nagoya Protocol Parties in terms of actual cash flows reaching biodiversity custodians.

At the same time, important debates remain. Ensuring that ABS implementation fully respects the rights of local communities and adheres to Nagoya Protocol principles, such as prior informed consent and equitable sharing, remains critical, particularly considering the 2023 legislative amendments and the 2025 ABS Regulations. Civil society analyses have highlighted concerns that regulatory relaxations for certain user categories could weaken community control or reduce benefit shares, reinforcing the need for strong BMC participation, transparent consent procedures, and accessible grievance redress mechanisms within the new digital framework.

Looking ahead, key priorities include:

• Closing the remaining gap between ABS collections and disbursements by institutionalising time-bound processing and automated routing rules through the digital portal
• Deepening sectoral ABS assessments across forestry, AYUSH, agriculture, seed systems, and biotechnology, and expanding patent- and IP-linked ABS as more innovations reach commercialization
• Strengthening the capacity of SBBs and BMCs to manage, plan, and account for ABS funds, including through BIOFIN-supported tools, mainstreaming indices, and practical guidance

Together, these steps will help ensure that ABS continues to function as a credible, transparent, and equitable biodiversity finance solution, delivering lasting benefits for communities, ecosystems, and sustainable development.

References:

1. National Biodiversity Authority sanctions ₹82 Lakh for Red Sanders Conservation in Andhra Pradesh under the Access and Benefit Sharing Mechanism
   https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2172620&reg=3&lang=1
2. National Biodiversity Authority released ₹55 Lakh to Farmers of Red Sanders in Tamil Nadu. https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2183201&reg=3&lang=1
3. National Biodiversity Authority releases ₹18.3 Lakh to Biodiversity Management Committees in UP and Sikkim https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2182372&reg=3&lang=1
4. National Biodiversity Authority releases ₹1.36 Crore to empower Grassroots Level Conservation of Biodiversity in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh
   https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2182001&reg=3&lang=1
5. National Biodiversity Authority released Rs.67 lakhs to Dapur Biodiversity Management Committee in Maharashtra
   https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2181692&reg=3&lang=1
6. NBA releases ₹5.34 crores to Maharashtra under the Access and Benefit Sharing Framework 
   https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2195570&reg=3&lang=1
7. NBA released ₹39.84 crore to Andhra Pradesh for Red Sanders Protection and Conservation https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2192377&reg=3&lang=1
8. NBA released ₹ 29.40 lakh to Odisha Forest Department for Conservation and Protection of Red Sanders https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2189779&reg=3&lang=1
9. NBA Releases Patent-linked Access Benefit-sharing of ₹43.22 Lakh to the Benefit Claimers for the first time https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2188814&reg=3&lang=1
10. NBA Releases ₹3.00 Crore to Red Sanders Farmers in Andhra Pradesh under Access and Benefit-Sharing Framework  https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2186160&reg=3&lang=1
11. NBA Releases ₹6.2 Crore as Access and Benefit Sharing funds to beneficiaries in Five States. To date, over ₹101 crore has been disbursed under Athe BS mechanism for Red Sanders conservation, taking NBA’s total ABS disbursements beyond ₹127 crores https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2202109&reg=3&lang=1