New Delhi: Acknowledging India’s leading role in conserving tigers, other big cats and many of its endangered species, and curbing poaching, the Union Cabinet today approved the establishment of the International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA) with headquarters in India. It will have a one-time budgetary support of Rs.150 crore for a period of five years from 2023-24 to 2027-28. For augmented corpus, contributions from bilateral and multilateral agencies; other appropriate institutions and mobilizing financial support from public sector organizations, national and international financial institutions and donor agencies will further be explored.
Seven big cats include Tiger, Lion, Leopard, Snow Leopard, Puma, Jaguar and the Cheetah. Out of these five big cats, Tiger, Lion, Leopard, Snow Leopard and Cheetah are found in India. The International Big Cat Alliance will aim to secure the future of big cats and the landscapes they thrive. The pioneering and long-standing tiger and other big cat conservation good practices that evolved in India may be replicated in many other range countries.
The framework of the agreement (statute) has been drafted largely on the pattern of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) and will be finalized by the International Steering Committee (ISC). Host Country Agreement prepared on the lines of ISA and Government of India. The Steering Committee would be constituted with nominated national focal points of founding member countries.
The International Big Cat Alliance has been conceived as a multi-country, multi-agency coalition of 96 big cat range countries, non-range countries interested in big cat conservation, corporate houses and scientific organizations working in the field of big cat conservation.
IBCA aims for cooperation among countries for mutual benefit in furthering the conservation agenda. IBCA would have a multipronged approach in broad basing and establishing linkages manifold in several areas and 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 usher 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 Alliance further envisages synergy through a collaborative platform for increased dissemination of gold standard big cat conservation practices, provides access to a central common repository of technical know-how and corpus of funds, strengthens the existing species-specific intergovernmental platforms, networks and transnational initiatives on conservation and protection and assists securing our ecological future and mitigate adverse effects of climate change.
The framework of IBCA will have a multipronged approach in broad basing and establishing linkages manifold in several areas and help in knowledge sharing, capacity building, networking, advocacy, finance and resources support, research and technical support, insurance against failures, education and awareness.
Brand ambassadors will play a greater role in carrying forward the concept and will boost the impetus to ensure the big cat conservation campaign amongst the masses including the youth and local communities who are important stakeholders in the whole process.
The country’s climate leadership role through a collaborative action-oriented approach and initiatives, leading to enhanced green economy projects is possible through the IBCA platform. Thus, the impetus across Big Cat alliance members could change the face of conservation and prosperity of enabling partners, a Cabinet note stated.
The International Big Cat Alliance recognizes the importance of integrating biodiversity policies with sustainable development goals (SDGs) to achieve holistic and inclusive conservation outcomes.
– global bihari bureau
