Constitution of State Biodiversity Fund.

(1)There shall be constituted a Fund to be called the State Biodiversity Fund and there shall be credited thereto—

(a)any grants and loans made to the State Biodiversity Board under section 31;

(b)any grants or loans made by the National Biodiversity Authority;

¹[(c)all sums including charges and benefit sharing amount received by the State Biodiversity Board and from such other sources as may be decided by the State Government;]

(2)The State Biodiversity Fund shall be ²[utilised] for—

(a)the management and conservation of heritage sites;

³[(aa)channelling benefits to the benefit claimers;]

(b)compensating or rehabilitating any section of the people economically affected by notification under sub-section (1) of section 37;

⁴[(c)conservation, promotion and sustainable use of biological resources;]

⁵[(d)socio-economic development of areas from where such biological resources or traditional knowledge associated thereto have been accessed in consultation with the Biodiversity Management Committee or local body concerned:

Provided that when it is not possible to identify the area from where the biological resources or associated knowledge have been accessed, the fund shall be utilised for socio-economic development of the area where such biological resources occur;]

⁶[(e)making grants or loans to the Biodiversity Management Committees;

(f)the activities to meet the purposes of the Act.]