India to host a global big cats summit next year, says Minister Bhupender Yadav

Delivered India’s National Statement at the high-level segment at COP30 in Belem, Brazil today.

Underlined that unsustainable growth and development have placed Mother Earth in deep stress. Led by PM Shri @narendramodi ji, India has demonstrated successfully that development and… pic.twitter.com/DsR4N2G7y9

— Bhupender Yadav (@byadavbjp) November 17, 2025

He said 17 countries were already formally associated with IBCA, with over 30 more expressing willingness to join. The Minister emphasised that India’s ambition is to bring all big cat range countries, and all nations valuing biodiversity and climate security, into the Alliance.

He said India linked big cat conservation directly with climate mitigation, adaptation and ecosystem resilience.

“Where big cats thrive, forests are healthier, grasslands regenerate, water systems function, and carbon is stored efficiently in living landscapes,” he said, highlighting the fact that declines in big cat populations lead to destabilized ecosystems, weakened resilience to climate change, and loss of natural carbon sinks.

“What we often call ‘wildlife conservation’ is, in fact, climate action in its most natural form,” Yadav said.

He said that conserving big cat landscapes directly strengthened carbon sequestration, watershed protection, disaster risk reduction, climate adaptation, and sustainable livelihoods.