NTCmatch: R package for searching synonyms of plants listed under list of Normally Traded as Commodities

Equitable sharing of benefits from the commercial use of biological resources is a cornerstone of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). This principle is pivotal in advancing the other two CBD objectives: conserving biological diversity and its sustainable use. India, as a CBD signatory, enacted the Biological Diversity Act in 2002 (amended in 2023) and established a three-tiered implementation system involving the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), State Biodiversity Boards (SBBs), and Union Territory Biodiversity Councils (UTBCs). A critical regulatory framework within this system is the Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) mechanism, guided by the Nagoya Protocol and NBA guidelines. This study addresses challenges in the identification and processing of biological resources listed as Normally Traded as Commodities (NTC), particularly when discrepancies in scientific nomenclature or taxonomic errors are present. We developed an R package, NTCmatch, designed to facilitate the identification of plant synonyms within the NTC list, enhancing the accuracy and efficiency of the ABS mechanism. The package was created using devtools and roxygen2, with readxl for data management. Results demonstrate the utility of NTCmatch in synonym matching, although the manual verification of plant parts and sources remains crucial. The package aims to streamline workflows for NBA, SBBs, and UTBCs, ensuring compliance with the Biological Diversity Act and facilitating the equitable sharing of benefits.