NEW DELHI: Ahead of the first International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA) summit which is to be held in Delhi on June 1-2, Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav on Monday urged industry leaders to support global big cat conservation efforts through corporate funding and partnerships.“Corporate funding is essential to support critical areas of big cat conservation such as habitat restoration, technology driven monitoring and surveillance, community based conservation, capacity building, and conservation awareness,” said the minister.He was addressing the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) conference on ‘Future of the Global Economy, Industry and Society, and the Vision for India@100’.The IBCA, headquartered in Delhi, was launched in 2023 at India’s behest with the aim of conserving seven big cats — Tiger, Lion, Leopard, Snow Leopard, Cheetah, Jaguar and Puma – in coordination with other countries. Except for Jaguar and Puma, India is home to five big cats.Its first summit will adopt the first-ever global declaration on big cat conservation (Delhi Declaration), establishing a unified framework to strengthen international cooperation and reinforce the Alliance’s role as a leading global platform for conservation efforts.So far, 25 out of 95 big cat range countries have joined this treaty-based global entity as ‘members’ whereas five others are part of the IBCA as ‘observers’. Saudi Arabia is expected to join the Alliance soon.Globally, 23 countries in the Americas (North and South) host puma and jaguar, 42 African countries have lion, cheetah and leopard, and 30 Asian nations have lion, cheetah, leopard and snow leopard.
