Anand and Anand was a knowledge partner to IAC 2016, the first International Agrobiodiversity Congress. Attended by 1050 delegates from 57 countries, the Congress is recognized by the Indian and international scientific community as being one of the foremost recent efforts in the subject.
Dr. Neeti Wilson, Partner, Anand and Anand was a panelist in the technical session of the International Agrobiodiversity Congress 2016, discussing Access and Benefit Sharing in the context of regulatory systems. Dignitaries on the dias for the session included Prof. M. S. Swaminathan, the father of green revolution in India along with the Chairperson of the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), Dr. Meenakumari.
Neeti highlighted the concerns of stakeholders utilizing biological resources in their intellectual property, specifically capacity-building at the NBA. She emphasised the need for timely disposals of applications, drew attention to SALT (Simplicity, Awareness, Legal Certainty and Transparency) being essential in all regulatory proceedings, and the importance of valuation in benefit sharing. Dr. Meenakumari communicated the NBA to be not a regulatory but a facilitating body for stakeholders.
The ABS sessions realised several issues relating to access of the biological resources and made bold recommendations to allow free access to all plant genetic resources and not only to the 64 crops listed in Annex 1 of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture currently in place. A recommendation to the UN to declare a ‘Year of Agrobiodiversity’ was also made.
Read the full proceedings and recommendations of the 1st International Agrobiodiversity Congress.
Read more about the pre-IAC Access and Benefit Sharing Seminar discussing PPVFRA and sustainable growth.
Neeti Wilson talks about the protection of India’s biological resources.