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

“India has been able to double its tiger population ahead of the target timeline and our Asiatic lion population continues to grow well. We (India) have built one of the world’s most comprehensive wildlife databases through nationwide population assessments of tigers, lions, leopards and snow leopards, while expanding protected areas, securing corridors, and partnering with local communities for conservation and eco-based livelihoods,” he said, while thanking Brazil, the hosts of COP30, for organising a special meeting on IBCA.

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.

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