MoEFCC to organize Five Thematic Events across the Country, dedicated to each Big Cat Species found in India

📌 Summary:

• Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) will organise five thematic events across the country — one for each of India's five wild big cat species: Tiger, Asiatic Lion, Leopard, Snow Leopard and Cheetah
• Events serve as a precursor to the IBCA Summit 2026 and will showcase conservation achievements, challenges and collaborative actions by the Government of India and State Governments
• India hosts over 70% of the world's wild tiger population; emerged as global leader in tiger conservation under Project Tiger and the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA)
• Major conservation actions highlighted: expansion of tiger reserves, landscape-level corridor protection, camera trapping, M-STrIPES, AI-enabled monitoring, Special Tiger Protection Force, voluntary village relocation, community-based eco-development, wildlife tourism livelihoods
• Specific focus on Maharashtra's Vidarbha landscape (Chandrapur) to improve corridor connectivity and reduce human–tiger conflict

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS3 — Environment & Biodiversity (Conservation, Wildlife). Critical for understanding species-specific conservation, India's leadership in IBCA, and human–wildlife conflict mitigation.

📝 Prelims Facts:

• Five big cat species in India: Tiger, Asiatic Lion, Leopard, Snow Leopard, Cheetah
• IBCA = International Big Cat Alliance, launched by PM Modi in 2023; HQ in India
• India has >70% of world's wild tigers
• Project Tiger launched 1973; NTCA is statutory body under Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972
• M-STrIPES = Monitoring System for Tigers — Intensive Protection and Ecological Status; tiger-reserve patrolling/monitoring software
• Cheetah reintroduced in India at Kuno NP (Madhya Pradesh) via Project Cheetah (Sept 2022)

🔑 Key Term: IBCA (International Big Cat Alliance) — Multi-country alliance launched by India in 2023 with HQ in India, focused on conservation of seven big cats (Tiger, Lion, Leopard, Snow Leopard, Cheetah, Jaguar, Puma).