196
65
supporting organisations with whom they
have long-standing and positive
relationships. It is intended for use
alongside supplementary resources
hosted on the community protocols portal
(www.community-protocols.org). Please
contact Holly Shrumm at
holly@naturaljustice.org with any
questions or feedback.
n Available for free download at:
www.community-protocols.org/toolkit
The balancing act: experiences with
access and benefit-sharing under India’s
biodiversity law
lKanchi Kohli and Shalini Bhutani
Kalpavrisksh and Swissaid, India
(forthcoming)
This publication attempts to critically
understand the experience of granting
access to biological material/people’s
knowledge as well as determining
benefit-sharing. While it draws from
some of the discussions and examples
from the pre-CBD phase, it locates itself
in the coming into being of the Biological
Diversity Act, 2002 in India and how its
design and implementation has shaped
the practice of access and benefit-sharing
in the country. It also seeks to explore the
relevance of ABS frameworks and the
Nagoya Protocol to specific community
realities in India.
n For more information contact:
kvbooks@gmail.com
Chasing ‘benefits’:
issues on access to
genetic resources
and traditional
knowledge with
reference to India’s
biodiversity regime.
A post-Nagoya
Protocol view on
access and benefit-sharing
l Kanchi Kohli and Shalini Bhutani,
Kalpavriksh, 2011
The word ‘chase’ implies pursuing with an
intent to catch. That was what
biodiversity-rich countries were intending
through an international regime on access
and benefit-sharing (ABS) – hunting
down ‘bio-piracy’. The chase has been long
and hard, lasting for over nine years.
Amidst the fatigue of the last hours, the
text thrust in their faces at the finish line is
hardly the prize countries like India were
hoping for. So yes, there is a global Nagoya
Protocol on paper under the Convention
on Biological Diversity (CBD). But no, the
pursuit is not yet over for provider
countries of genetic resources. Neither is it
the end of the pirating of their people’s
biodiversity-based knowledge. Catching
their breath, both countries and
communities have to look within as they
chart their next steps for the road ahead.
For the countries who are users of genetic
resources, access continues while ‘benefits’
to communities remain illusory. This
paper was prepared for the NGO Alliance
on CBD (India) supported through WWFIndia’s CSO Initiative.
n Available in Hindi and English. For more
information and to order a copy, see:
http://tinyurl.com/d45sujb or
www.kalpavriksh.org
Biocultural community
protocols – a
community approach
to ensuring the
integrity of
environmental law
and policy
l Editors: Kabir
Bavikatte and Harry
Jonas. Authors: Elan Abrell, Kabir
Bavikatte, Harry Jonas, Ilse KöhlerRollefson, Barbara Lassen, Gary Martin,
Olivier Rukundo, Johanna von Braun and
Peter Wood
UNEP and Natural Justice, October 2009
This book illustrates the application of
biocultural community protocols to a
range of environmental legal frameworks.
Part I focuses on the Convention on