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The International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed a Memorandum of Understanding covering landscape conservation, sustainable development, capacity building, knowledge exchange and nature-positive financing initiatives.
The MoU was signed at a two-day International Workshop on 'Tiger Landscapes: Conservation, Bioeconomy and Ecotourism as Pillars for Livelihood and Income Generation', held in New Delhi on 2-3 September 2026 and jointly organised by IBCA, ADB and the National Tiger Conservation Authority under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav inaugurated the workshop, arguing for a shift from species-centric conservation to integrated landscape management that treats tiger landscapes as natural capital delivering water security, carbon sequestration, climate regulation and livelihoods.
He asked IBCA to take the lead in bringing native and traditional knowledge from the Global South into conservation, bioeconomy and ecotourism policy-making.
Experts and government representatives from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Malaysia, Nepal and Vietnam attended, alongside State Forest Department and Tiger Reserve officials; ADB's Country Director for India noted that 2026 completes 40 years of ADB's partnership with India.
A global platform for cooperation among countries and institutions working on the conservation of seven big cat species — tiger, lion, leopard, snow leopard, cheetah, jaguar and puma. Launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 9 April 2023 at the commemoration of 50 years of Project Tiger; the Union Cabinet approved its establishment with headquarters in India on 29 February 2024. Its Framework Agreement entered into force on 23 January 2025, making IBCA and its Secretariat a full-fledged treaty-based inter-governmental international organisation and international legal entity. Nicaragua, Eswatini, India, Somalia and Liberia were among the first to deposit instruments of ratification, acceptance or approval.
The statutory authority for tiger conservation in India, which gives Project Tiger legal teeth — a permanent secretariat and the power to issue binding directions to states. Constituted under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 as amended in 2006, following the recommendations of the Tiger Task Force set up after the Sariska crisis, in which tigers disappeared from the reserve through poaching and management failure.
A regional multilateral development bank financing infrastructure, environment and social sector projects across Asia and the Pacific; here the source of finance, capacity building and cross-country knowledge exchange for big-cat range states. Established on 19 December 1966, with Takeshi Watanabe as its first President. It has 69 members, of which 50 are from within Asia and the Pacific and 19 from outside.
The comparison body worth knowing — the only international, inter-governmental, non-profit organisation devoted to tiger conservation, owned and run by tiger range countries. Established in 1994, following the International Symposium on Tiger held in New Delhi in February 1993 at which the Delhi Declaration on tiger conservation was adopted. Its membership is confined to tiger range countries (plus the United Kingdom as a non-range member), unlike IBCA, which spans all seven big cats and any interested country or institution.
The workshop's framing is that a tiger reserve is not only a habitat for one species but a stock of natural capital — an asset that yields a flow of ecosystem services. The services named at the inaugural session were water security, carbon sequestration, climate regulation, biodiversity conservation and livelihood support. Species-centric conservation protects the animal; landscape management protects the forests, grasslands, rivers, prey species and wildlife corridors on which the animal's survival depends, and treats the communities living in and around them as participants rather than obstacles. The practical consequence is financial: if a landscape's ecosystem services can be valued, they can be financed — through nature-based solutions, innovative financing mechanisms and community-based ecotourism, which is precisely the territory the IBCA–ADB MoU stakes out under the heading 'nature-positive financing'. The bioeconomy element extends the same logic to production: sustainable use of biological resources within the landscape as a source of local income rather than a threat to conservation.
Simple Analogy: Treating a tiger landscape as natural capital is the difference between insuring a single valuable painting and insuring the whole building that keeps it dry — the second costs more to think about but is the only one that actually protects the painting.
India's principal wildlife law. Its 2006 amendment created the National Tiger Conservation Authority and the statutory basis for tiger reserves with core and buffer areas, converting Project Tiger from a scheme into a legally enforceable framework.
The treaty establishing the International Big Cat Alliance. It entered into force on 23 January 2025, after which IBCA became a treaty-based inter-governmental organisation with international legal personality rather than merely an initiative; states join by depositing instruments of ratification, acceptance or approval under Article VIII(1).
The centrally sponsored scheme, launched in 1973, through which the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change provides central assistance to tiger states; the NTCA administers it and its 50th anniversary in 2023 was the occasion for IBCA's launch.
| Aspect | International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA) | Global Tiger Forum (GTF) |
|---|---|---|
| Established | Launched 9 April 2023; treaty in force from 23 January 2025 | 1994, following the 1993 New Delhi International Symposium on Tiger and the Delhi Declaration |
| Legal status | Treaty-based inter-governmental international organisation with international legal personality | International inter-governmental non-profit organisation |
| Species covered | Seven big cats — tiger, lion, leopard, snow leopard, cheetah, jaguar, puma | Tiger only |
| Membership | Open to countries and institutions beyond big-cat range states | Owned and run by tiger range countries; the UK is a non-range member |
| Headquarters | New Delhi, India | New Delhi, India |
The cheetah is one of IBCA's seven species and India's cheetah reintroduction at Kuno gave the alliance part of its political impetus; IBCA was launched at the 50-years-of-Project-Tiger event.
Treating landscapes as natural capital connects to green accounting and to the wider debate on incorporating environmental depletion into national accounts.
The Minister's call for IBCA to carry native wisdom from the Global South into conservation policy fits India's broader positioning across the International Solar Alliance, the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure and the Big Cat Alliance — all India-headquartered plurilateral bodies.
The emphasis on community-based ecotourism and on communities as participants links to the Forest Rights Act, 2006 and to the core-buffer management of tiger reserves under the Wild Life (Protection) Act.
ADB sits alongside the World Bank, the AIIB and the New Development Bank in India's development finance mix; each has distinct membership, headquarters and voting structures that are separately testable.
GS Paper 3 > Environment > Conservation, Biodiversity and Institutional Framework
General Awareness > Environment and International Organisations
General Awareness > Current Affairs
The term 'M-STrIPES' is sometimes seen in the news in the context of
Answer: Maintenance of Tiger Reserves
Big-cat conservation institutions, tiger reserve counts and India-headquartered international bodies are recurring Prelims material, appearing in some form in most recent cycles.
An India-headquartered, treaty-based inter-governmental organisation for the conservation of seven big cat species, launched in April 2023 with its Framework Agreement in force from 23 January 2025.
Financing structured so that the funded activity produces a net gain for nature — the heading under which the IBCA–ADB MoU places its financial cooperation.
The stock of natural assets — forests, soils, water, biodiversity — from which flows a stream of ecosystem services such as water security, carbon sequestration and climate regulation.
Economic activity based on the sustainable use of biological resources, offered here as a livelihood channel within conserved landscapes.
The body whose recommendations, after the Sariska crisis, led to the creation of the NTCA through the 2006 amendment of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.