Cabinet approves establishment of International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA)

Contact Counsellor

Last Updated04/03/2024

Recently, the Union Cabinet approved the establishment of the International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA) with headquarters in India.

The concept of IBCA was introduced by the Prime Minister of India during Global Tiger Day in 2019.
Objective: To spearhead efforts towards the protection and conservation of the seven major big cats viz. tiger, lion, leopard, snow leopard, puma, jaguar, and cheetah.
- Out of these five big cats viz. Tiger, Lion, Leopard, Snow Leopard and Cheetah are found in India.
It aims to unite 96 big cat range countries, non-range countries, conservation partners, scientific organizations, and corporate entities
Funding
- The Government of India has allocated a one-time budgetary support of Rs.150 crore for the period from 2023-24 to 2027-28.
- The alliance will also explore contributions from bilateral and multilateral agencies, financial institutions, and donor agencies to augment its corpus.
Activities: knowledge sharing, capacity building, networking, advocacy, financial support, research, technical assistance, education, and awareness.
The alliance emphasizes on integrating biodiversity policies with SDGs and mainstreaming biodiversity across sectors.

IBCA's governance structure includes a General Assembly of Members, a Council of elected member countries and a Secretariat.
The General Assembly appoints the Secretary General of IBCA upon the recommendation of the Council.
The framework of agreement is modelled after the International Solar Alliance (ISA) and will be finalised by the International Steering Committee (ISC).