New Delhi, Nov 27 : Looking to empower local communities and promote fair and equitable benefit sharing, the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) has released Rs 5.34 crore to around 85 Biodiversity Management Committees (BMC) in Maharashtra, an official said on Thursday.

These BMCs fall under various Nagar and Gram Panchayats in Wada Tehsil, Palghar District, and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation of Maharashtra. The funds will be disbursed through the Maharashtra State Biodiversity Board.

This release follows a case in which a company accessed soil microorganisms - bacteria of the Bacillus genus - and used them to develop probiotic products, said a statement issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

Notably, around 15 per cent of the Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) applications are for accessing microorganisms, underscoring an important fact - â??microâ?? organisms can generate â??macroâ?? benefits for farmers, local communities, BMCs and other stakeholders.

The initiative reinforces the NBAâ??s commitment to ensuring that the local communities, the true custodians of biodiversity, receive recognition and fair and equitable benefits.

By doing so, the NBA continues to support Indiaâ??s vision of a sustainable and inclusive biodiversity management where conservation efforts directly contribute to the communityâ??s prosperity and well-being, said the statement.

Before this, the NBA had released more than Rs 2.56 crore to 108 BMCs and 7 institutions in Maharashtra.

The current disbursement of Rs 5.34 crore adds substantially to this progress. With this release, Indiaâ??s total ABS disbursements have crossed an impressive amount of Rs 116 crores.

India is a pioneer in the World for the effective implementation of the ABS mechanism.

Earlier in the month, the NBA released Rs 38.36 crore to the Andhra Pradesh Forest Department and Rs 1.48 crore to the Andhra Pradesh State Biodiversity Board to protect and conserve the iconic Red Sanders.

With this fund release aimed at boosting biodiversity conservation efforts, the total Access and Benefit Sharing disbursements in the country have crossed Rs 110 crore, said a statement.

Red Sanders, renowned worldwide for its deep red timber, grows naturally only in selected pockets of the Eastern Ghats, particularly in the Anantapur, Chittoor, Kadapa, Prakasam and Kurnool districts of Andhra Pradesh.

An amount of Rs 87.68 crore was generated through regulated access to auctioned or seized Red Sanders wood by the Andhra Pradesh Forest Department as a benefit-sharing amount.

So far, the NBA has released over Rs 49 crore to Forest Departments of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha and to the Andhra Pradesh State Biodiversity Board for Red Sanders conservation, protection and research, said the official statement.

/IANS