The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Government of India, in collaboration with the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), Quality Council of India (QCI) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) India, has initiated the Voluntary Certification Scheme for Incentivization of Access and Benefit Sharing (VCS-I-ABS). With this, India becomes the first country among the 196 Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to operationalise a dedicated Voluntary Certification Scheme on Access and Benefit Sharing.

 

India is a globally recognised leader in ABS implementation, accounting for approximately 60% of all Internationally Recognized Certificates of Compliance (IRCC) published in the CBD's ABS Clearing-House. The ABS framework is implemented through a three-tier institutional structure comprising the NBA, State Biodiversity Boards (SBBs)/Union Territory Biodiversity Councils (UTBCs) and Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs).

 

   VCS-I-ABS, voluntary by design, is a step towards creating a brand for the business entities, through an award of a logo and a certificate to those entities that have already complied with the ABS requirements under the Biological Diversity Act, Biological Diversity Rules, Access and Benefit Sharing Regulations and its subsequent amendments.

          The logo combines a plant graphic (biological/medicinal values) and lotus leaf (Indian cultural ethos and enlightenment) with hands symbolizing care, protection, and sustainability. The circular form represents a holistic, 360-degree approach to fair and equitable benefit sharing, while the acronym ABS anchors the design and reinforces recall value.

 

The logo serves as a market differentiator in national and international markets, incentivising ABS compliance and assisting certified entities in gaining market leadership and access to newer markets.The scheme has been prepared following multi-stakeholder consultations.

 

The VCS-I-ABS logo is registered as a Trademark with Intellectual Property India (IPI) under Classes 31 and 44 of the Trademarks Rules, 2002. NBA is the principal of the scheme while the accreditation through third party certification bodies (CB) to be provided by International Accreditation Forum (IAF) signatory system viz., the National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB), a constituent board of QCI.

 

VCS-I-ABS aims:

i.        To create a market differentiator for entities that are certified as per the scheme and assist them in gaining market leadership as well as to gain access to newer markets.

ii.       To provide option for the consumers to purchase commodities from the business entities that have assisted communities from where they have procured the biological resources.

iii.      To make India a hub of ABS compliant entities by certification of businesses and grant them with the ABS logo.

iv.      To bring non-compliant bio-resource users back within the ABS ambit.

 

The scheme has been developed with financial support from the GoI-UNDP Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN). It operationalizes India's Biodiversity Finance Plan (BFP, 2019), which identifies ABS as a key, scalable finance solution for bridging the biodiversity funding gap and channelling benefits to communities and conservation institutions.

 

The launch underscores India's commitment to the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and National Biodiversity Target 13 on scaling up equitable benefit sharing. The scheme reinforces India’s position as a global pioneer in using market-based instruments to advance biodiversity finance, community development and conservation. For additional information, please contact: secretary@nba.nic.in

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