The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the establishment of International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA) with headquarters in India with a one-time budgetary support of ₹ 150 crore for a period of five years from 2023-24 to 2027-28, as per an official statement. Acknowledging India’s leading role in conserving tigers, other big cats and many of its endangered species, the Prime Minister of India during his speech on the occasion of Global Tiger Day 2019 had called for an Alliance of Global Leaders to curb poaching in Asia. He reiterated this on the occasion of Commemorating 50 years of India’s Project Tiger on April 9, 2023, and formally announced launch of an International Big Cat Alliance aiming at securing the future of big cats and landscapes they thrive. The now decades-old tiger and other big cat conservation good practices evolved in India may be replicated in many other range countries, the statement added.

The seven big cats are Tiger, Lion, Leopard, Snow Leopard, Puma, Jaguar and the Cheetah, and of these, a majority of five big cats – the tiger, lion, leopard, snow leopard and cheetah are found in their natural habitats in India.

The International Big Cat Alliance has been conceived as a multi-country, multi-agency coalition of 96 big cat range countries as well as non-range countries interested in big cat conservation, conservation partners, and scientific organizations working in the field of big cat conservation. It also includes business groups and corporates willing to contribute to the cause of big cats in order to establish networks and develop synergies in a focused manner so as to bring to a common platform a centralized repository of successful practices and personnel backed by financial support that is capable of being leveraged. The overarching aim is to strengthen the conservation agenda in the field in order to arrest decline in big cat population and reverse the trend. 

This will be a demonstrative step in leadership position on big cat agenda, to bring range countries and others on a common platform, said the statement.

IBCA aims for mutual cooperation among countries for mutual benefit in furthering the conservation agenda. The body would have a multipronged approach in broad-basing and establishing manifold linkages in several areas. It will help in knowledge sharing, capacity building, networking, advocacy, finance and resources support, research and technical support, education and awareness. With big cats as mascots for sustainable development and livelihood security, India and the big cat range countries can bring in major efforts on environmental resilience and climate change mitigation, while paving a future where natural ecosystems continue to thrive, and gain centrality in economic and development policies, the release stated.

It added that the IBCA envisages synergy through a collaborative platform for increased dissemination of gold standard conservation practices of big cats, an enabler of access to a central common repository of technical know-how and corpus of funds, strengthening the existing species-specific intergovernmental platforms, networks and transnational initiatives on conservation and protection, as well as assist in securing our ecological future and mitigate adverse effects of climate change.