About IBCA

• On the occasion of commemorating 50 years of India’s Project Tiger on April 9, 2023, India launched the International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA) with headquarters in India with a one-time budgetary support of Rs.150 crore.
• This alliance aims to initiate ‘Big Cat Diplomacy’ and will focus on the protection and conservation of seven major big cats — tiger, lion, leopard, snow leopard, puma, jaguar and cheetah. 

What are ‘Big cats’?

• ‘Big Cat’ is a term that is used in informal speech to apply to any large species of the family Felidae. Usually, it applies to the members of the genus Panthera. 
• These include:

• Tiger (Panthera tigris)

• Lion (Panthera leo)

• Jaguar (Panthera onca)

• Leopard (Panthera pardus)

• Snow Leopard (Panthera uncia)

• Two other cats — Puma (Puma concolor) and Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) — are not part of Panthera. But they are usually included in most listings of ‘big cats’.
• The Indian subcontinent has been historically home to the Bengal tiger, Asiatic lion, Indian leopard, Indian/Asiatic cheetah as well as Snow leopard. 
• The cheetah was declared extinct in 1952. In 2022, the Government of India embarked on an ambitious programme to introduce African cheetahs to the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh.

About IBCA

• All UN member countries are eligible for becoming a member of IBCA. 
• The purpose of this alliance is to provide a platform for dissemination of information on benchmarked practices, capacity building, resources repository, research and development, awareness creation, etc. with regard to protection and conservation of the Big cats.

Governance Structure

• The IBCA’s governance structure will comprise a General Assembly consisting of all member countries, a council of at least seven but not more than 15 member countries elected by the General Assembly for a term of 5 years, and a Secretariat. 
• Upon the recommendation of the Council, the General Assembly will appoint the IBCA Secretary General for a specific term.

Funding Mechanism

• India has committed to provide a total grant assistance of $100 million, for 5 years, post which the IBCA is expected to sustain itself through membership fees, and contributions from bilateral and multilateral institutions and the private sector.

Why in News?

• In a major development, the Framework Agreement on establishment of the International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA) has officially come into force. 
• With this, the IBCA and its Secretariat have become a full-fledged treaty based inter-governmental international organization and international legal entity. 

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2099279