International Big Cat Alliance holds its first assembly in Delhi
New Delhi: The International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA) held its first assembly at its Delhi headquarters on Monday.
The assembly approved the Headquarters Agreement signed with India, work plan, rules of procedure and the manual of staff and financial regulations.
These will serve as the guiding foundation for the effective governance, operations, and collaborative initiatives of IBCA.
The assembly also endorsed the proceedings of the first International Steering Committee meeting of IBCA, which was held in April 2024, according to a statement by India's environment ministry.
Further, the assembly unanimously endorsed Bhupender Yadav, India's environment minister as the president of IBCA. The assembly also endorsed SP Yadav as the director general of IBCA.
Created by the Government of India, the IBCA is a coalition of 95 range countries with a mandate for the conservation of seven big cats namely Tiger, Lion, Leopard, Snow Leopard, Cheetah, Jaguar and Puma.
The assembly, which is the apex body of IBCA, was attended in Delhi by ministerial delegations from Bhutan, Cambodia, Eswatini, Guinea, India, Liberia, Suriname, Somalia and Kazakhstan.
In his address, Yadav called upon the Big Cat range countries to actively engage and collaborate in the initiatives and programmes of IBCA. He emphasised the importance of collective action to advance the conservation and protection of the seven major big cat species and their natural habitats and assist in securing our ecological future and mitigate adverse effects of climate change.
The IBCA was established by the Government of India, through its nodal organisation viz. National Tiger Conservation Authority, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in 2024. The primary objective of IBCA is to facilitate collaboration and synergy among range countries and other stakeholders.
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The future of the discipline and its impact on India's growth, depends on the urgency and clarity of our response. What we need now is innovative leadership – of the kind that Prof. Mahalanobis exemplified. But leadership of that calibre does not emerge in a vacuum. It is fuelled by purpose, passion, and a deep engagement with the problems of the time – qualities that once defined the Indian Statistical Institute and must define our efforts again today. For this revival to take root, support must come from the highest levels of government. Only then can statistics reclaim its rightful place in India's development journey. The authors gratefully acknowledge the discussions and comments they received from various people based on the earlier drafts of this article. In particular, they extend their heartfelt thanks to Radhabinod Barman, Alok Arunam, Arpita Ghosh, Rupam Pal, Manasi Narasimhan, Shivani Raturi, Aparna Dwivedi. The views expressed in this post are solely those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect those of the I4I Editorial Board.
