Cabinet announces International ‘Big Cat’ Alliance

The IBCA is an initiative launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in April 2023 in Mysuru commemorating the 50th anniversary of Project Tiger. The objective of the IBCA is to ensure cooperation for the conservation of seven big cats: lion, tiger, leopard, cheetah, snow leopard, jaguar, and puma. Five of these cats, apart from jaguar and puma, are found in India.

Reacting to the development, Modi posted on X, “The Cabinet decision on the establishment of the International Big Cat Alliance, headquartered in India, marks a major step towards conserving our majestic big cats and their habitats, and also reinforcing India’s leadership in global biodiversity conservation.”

Modelled on the International Solar Alliance founded in 2015, the IBCA “has been conceived as a multi-country, multi-agency coalition of 96 big cat range countries”, Thakur said.

Besides range countries (which house one or more of these big cats), the alliance will also include “non-range countries interested in big cat conservation, conservation partners and scientific organisations working in the field of big cat conservation,” read a press statement.

The IBCA proposes to have an assembly of members, a standing committee as well as a secretariat based in India. The Environment Ministry will appoint an interim director general to head the IBCA secretariat, until members of the alliance can meet and appoint a permanent office-bearer to oversee day-to-day operations.