Prime Minister Narendra Modi

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Sunday launch the International Big Cats Alliance (IBCA) which will focus on protection and conservation of seven major big cats of the world, namely tiger, lion, leopard, snow leopard, puma, jaguar and cheetah.

In July 2019, PM Modi had called for an ‘Alliance of Global Leaders’ to “obliterate demand” and firmly curb poaching and illegal Wildlife trade in Asia. Taking the message of the Prime Minister forward, the IBCA is being launched.

“This belief of PM has been integral in the environmental consciousness shown by the Modi government. Wide ranging efforts have been undertaken, which have together positively impacted the wildlife in the country,” said the government in a statement.

PM Modi will also release the latest tiger census data at a mega event to mark the completion of 50 years of ‘Project Tiger’ in Mysuru on Sunday.

He will inaugurate the programme ‘Commemoration of 50 years of Project Tiger’ during which he will release the publications ‘Amrit kaal ka vision for tiger conservation’, summary report of 5th cycle of Management Effective Evaluation of Tiger Reserves, declare tiger numbers and release summary report of All India Tiger Estimation (5th cycle).

A commemorative coin on completion of 50 years of ‘Project Tiger’ will also be released on the occasion.

Since 2014, there has been an increase in the population of big cats in India, with tiger populations increasing by 33 per cent from 2,226 in 2014 to 2,967 in 2018.

Strong conservation management and robust protection has resulted in a 29 per cent increase of lion population in Gujarat (674 in 2020 compared to 523 in 2015).

The widely distributed leopard population has seen an increase of about 63 per cent (from 7,910 in 2014 to 12,852 in 2018).

“Driven by PM’s vision, the country successfully achieved the world’s first ever wild-to-wild transcontinental translocation of a big cat (Cheetah) in 2022 and reversed a historic wrong of extinction of Cheetah,” the statement read.

“One plank of the efforts of the government is to positively impact the wildlife population through conservation efforts. A parallel plank is an immense focus of the government on ending poaching. This bore fruit last year with the end result being zero poaching of rhinoceros in Assam,” it added

With inputs from agencies

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