Biodiversity and Community Knowledge Protection Act.

This Act aims to implement the spirit, principles and relevant provisions of the Convention on Biological Diversity. The Act aims to protect the sovereign rights of the communities that have knowledge of biodiversity, and have managed, maintained, conserved, reproduced and enhanced biodiversity, genetic resources and traditional knowledge, culture and various forms of practice related to these resources. It acts to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of biological and genetic resources and related knowledge, culture and practice in order to maintain and improve their diversity as a means of sustaining the life support and healthcare system of the people of Bangladesh.
The National Biodiversity Authority shall be composed of relevant representatives from the public sector, scientific and professional organizations, people's organizations, women's organizations, development and environmental organizations, and representatives of local and indigenous communities, shall be created as a regulatory body to ensure proper implementation and enforcement of the provisions of this legislation (art. 11). The National Biodiversity Authority shall have the power to take decisions and measures as well as draft and implement rules, regulations and administrative procedures that are required by this Act. All biological and genetic resources in their diverse manifestations or expressions and the intellectual and cultural knowledge and practices shall be registered, documented and permanently kept in Community Biological Diversity Registers. The responsibility of documentation and maintenance of the record will be vested in the National Biodiversity Information System (art. 12). The National Biodiversity Information System shall develop an effective data base for monitoring the causes of the loss of biological diversity.