Definitions

Section 2 of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 deals with definitions. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-- [(a) "access" means collecting, procuring or possessing any biological resource occurring in or obtained from India or traditional knowledge associated thereto, for the purposes of research or bio-survey or commercial utilisation; The Act came into force on 01 Oct 2003.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,--

¹ [(a) "access" means collecting, procuring or possessing any biological resource occurring in or obtained from India or traditional knowledge associated thereto, for the purposes of research or bio-survey or commercial utilisation;

(aa) "benefit claimers" means the conservers of biological resources, their by-products, creators or holders of traditional knowledge associated thereto (excluding codified traditional knowledge only for Indians) and information relating to the use of such biological resources, innovations and practices associated with such use and application;]

(b) "biological diversity" ²[or "biodiversity"] 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;

³[(c) "biological resources" include plants, animals, micro-organisms or parts of their genetic material and derivatives (excluding value added products), with actual or potential use or value for humanity, but does not include human genetic material;]

(d) "bio-survey and bio-utilisation" means survey or collection of species, subspecies, genes, components and extracts of biological resource for any purpose and includes characterisation, inventorisation and bioassay;

(e) "Chairperson" means the Chairperson of the National Biodiversity Authority or, as the case may be, of the State Biodiversity Board;

² [(ea) "codified traditional knowledge" means the knowledge derived from authoritative books specified in the First Schedule to the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 (23 of 1940);]

(f) "commercial utilisation" means end uses of biological resources for commercial utilisation such as drugs, industrial enzymes, food flavours, fragrance, cosmetics, emulsifiers, oleoresins, colours, extracts and genes used for improving crops and livestock through genetic intervention, but does not include conventional breeding or traditional practices in use in any agriculture, horticulture, poultry, dairy farming, animal husbandry or bee keeping;

² [(fa) "derivative" means a naturally occurring biochemical compound or metabolism of biological resources, even if it does not contain functional units of heredity;]

(g) "fair and equitable benefit sharing" means sharing of benefits as determined by the National Biodiversity Authority under section 21;

²[(ga) "folk variety" means a cultivated variety of plant that was developed, grown and exchanged informally among farmers;

(gb) "India" means the territory of India as referred to in Article 1 of the Constitution, its territorial waters, seabed and sub-soil underlying such waters, continental shelf, exclusive economic zone or any other maritime zone as refferred to in the Territorial Waters, Continental Shelf, Exclusive Economic Zone and Other Maritime Zones Act, 1976, and the air space above its territory (80 of 1976);

(gc) "landrace" means primitive cultivar that was grown by ancient farmers and their successors;]

(h) "local bodies" means Panchayats and Municipalities, by what ever name called, within the meaning of clause (1) of article 243B and clause (1) of article 243Q of the Constitution and in the absence of any Panchayats or Municipalities, institutions of self-government constituted under any other provision of the Constitution or any Central Act or State Act;

(i) "member" means a member of the National Biodiversity Authority or a State Biodiversity Board and includes the Chairperson;

² [(ia) "Member-Secretary" means the full time Secretary of the National Biodiversity Authority, or of the State Biodiversity Board, as the case may be;]

(j) "National Biodiversity Authority" means the National Biodiversity Authority established under section 8;

(k) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;

(l) "regulations" means regulations made under this Act;

(m) "research" means study or systematic investigation of any biological resource or technological application, that uses biological systems, living organisms or derivatives thereof to make or modify products or processes for any use;

(n) "State Biodiversity Board" means the State Biodiversity Board established under section 22;

(o) "sustainable use" means the use of components of biological diversity in such manner and at such rate that does not lead to the long-term decline of the biological diversity thereby maintaining its potential to meet the needs and aspirations of present and future generations;

(p) "value added products" means products which may contain portions or extracts of plants and animals in unrecognizable and physically inseparable form.

Section 2, The Biological Diversity Act, 2002 (Act 18 of 2003).