Biological Diversity Act 2002, an Implementation Challenges in India: An Experience Sharing from Sikkim

Abstract

Indigenous and local communities are primarily dependent on forests for food and medicine. They understand that their well-being, their identity and their children’s future rely on the conservation and sustainable use of the forest resources. However, biopiracy and ongoing developmental activities are significantly threatening the biodiversity and associated traditional knowledge of the indigenous and local communities. India enacted the Biological Diversity Act 2002 with an aim of conserving biodiversity and their sustainable use and to ensure equitable benefit sharing from the commercialisation of biodiversity and the associated TK. This paper highlights on the various issues and challenges faced in its implementation especially in the state of Sikkim. The paper also articulates on how the certain state-specific biodiversity conservation policies are barring the indigenous communities from their access right to the forest resources thereby endangering their long conserved indigenous knowledge.