Vibha Varshney

Delhi

Consultant, Biodiversity and Food, Centre for Science and Environment, https://t.co/DAOFkzVsjH; Consulting Editor, Down To Earth, https://t.co/stcyoxahRp

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Articles

Digital Sequence Information: Science and Politics

3 weeks ago | cseindia.org | Vibha Varshney

This event is completeDigital Sequence Information and the lack of clarity about it is a prime bugbear in global biodiversity negotiations. What is Digital Sequence Information? The Convention on Biological Diversity, adopted in 1992, put three principles in place: conservation of biodiversity, its sustainable use, and sharing of benefits earned from its use with the custodians of the biodiversity. The third principle has lately been confounded by the use of Digital Sequence Information.
Wildlife & Biodiversity: SEED SAVIOURS

3 weeks ago | bizzbuzz.news | Shimali Chauhan |Vibha Varshney

A farmer at a community seed bank in Silpidi village of Dindori district, Madhya Pradesh. Farmers who take seeds from the bank return double the volume after harvest Photograph: Vikas Choudhary /CSEThere was a time when women farmers in Machnoor village of Telangana faced shortage of good quality seeds. They were forced to borrow seeds from landlords and would often get them too late or find them to be of poor quality. Not anymore.
Plant Treaty: Civil society organisations ask governments of Asian countries to reject amendments in the agreement

1 month ago | downtoearth.org.in | Vibha Varshney

Civil society organisations in Asia have made yet another attempt to ensure that the multilateral system for benefit sharing under the International Treaty for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGFRA) is not watered down.
Access and Benefit Sharing: New rules for use of biodiversity put in place by Centre

1 month ago | downtoearth.org.in | Vibha Varshney

The National Biodiversity Authority has released a new set of rules to manage sharing of benefits generated through the use of biological resources. The Biological Diversity (Access to biological Resources and Knowledge Associated thereto and Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits) Regulation 2025 was approved by the Central government and notified on April 29, 2025.
आहार संस्कृति: कमाल का एग फ्रूट

1 month ago | hindi.downtoearth.org.in | Vibha Varshney

मेरी खुशी का उस वक्त ठिकाना नहीं रहा, जब मुझे वह फल मिल गया जिसे मैं लंबे वक्त से खोज रही थी। मुझे इतना तो पता था कि एग फ्रूट तमिलनाडु और केरल में खाया जाता है, लेकिन यह कभी मेरे हाथ नहीं लगा। आखिरकार श्रीलंका में यह फल खुद ही मेरे पास पहुंच ही गया। मैं श्रीलंका के मध्य में स्थित नुवारा एलिया में सफर कर रही थी। इसी दौरान एक बच्चे से मैंने थैला भरकर एग फ्रूट खरीद लिया। स्थानीय भाषा में इसे लावुलु कहते हैं और उसने बताया कि यह बंदरों का पसंदीदा है। यह फल बड़ा सख्त था, इसलिए बच्चे ने कुछ दिन...
Tendu Tree's Role in Tribal Livelihoods

1 month ago | downtoearth.org.in | Vibha Varshney

Green gold. That is what the tendu tree or East Indian ebony is usually referred to because of its economic importance as a non-timber forest produce (NTFP). During the lean summer months, when agricultural or other income-generating activities are limited, the tree, found abundantly in the deciduous forests of central India, provides an assured seasonal income to hundreds of thousands of tribal communities.
IPLCs Outperform Scientists in Climate Data Collection

2 months ago | downtoearth.org.in | Vibha Varshney

IPLCs possess deep environmental knowledge, enabling them to detect even minor changes. Here’s proof that Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) are better at collecting data on the impact of climate change on biodiversity than scientists. Researchers from the Autonomous University of Barcelona in Spain have identified 203 documents, including 291 case studies, detailing observations by IPLCs on climate change impacts on biodiversity.
The Nutritious Egg Fruit of Sri Lanka and Its Culinary Uses

2 months ago | downtoearth.org.in | Vibha Varshney

Finding a fruit one has been wanting to taste for a while—and that too, in an unexpected place—is always exciting. A while ago, a friend had told me about an “egg fruit” from the southern states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, but I had not managed to lay my hands on it. It was in Sri Lanka that the fruit found me.
Access and benefit sharing remains a sticky point

2 months ago | downtoearth.org.in | Vibha Varshney

Everyone who thought that the COP16 in Cali, Colombia, would be the game changer on the issue of Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) is in for disappointment. Two meetings held in April prove this. At the CBD or Convention on Biological Diversity’s COP16, a multilateral mechanism for sharing benefits earned from the use of digital sequence information on genetic resources was put in place. The Cali Fund was established to receive and disburse funds.
Plant treaty: Proposed amendments being discussed over the week could dilute benefit-sharing provisions

2 months ago | downtoearth.org.in | Vibha Varshney

The Parties to the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (PGRFA) — also known as the Plant treaty — are gathered in Rome with a controversial agenda on the table. At the thirteenth meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group to Enhance the Functioning of the Multilateral System (MLS), which began on April 1, 2025, Parties will discuss a plan that could dilute the treaty’s benefit-sharing provisions by freeing access to genetic resources.