“The entry of Saudi Arabia into the IBCA — just ten days before India’s first global big cat summit — is not coincidence. It is conservation diplomacy in action.”
Saudi Arabia formally conveyed its intention to join the International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA) in May 2026 and was confirmed as the 26th member country on 22 May 2026. The development brings a major West Asian economy into a coalition that had until recently been concentrated among South Asian, African, and Latin American nations. With Saudi Arabia’s accession, the IBCA now counts 26 member countries and five observer nations, and gains its first member from the Arab world.
The timing is significant. India is scheduled to host the 1st IBCA Summit on 1 June 2026 at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi — the first global gathering dedicated exclusively to big cat conservation. Saudi Arabia’s entry just ten days before the summit elevates its diplomatic visibility and reinforces IBCA’s expanding reach beyond its founding range-country base.
📜 What Is the International Big Cat Alliance?
The IBCA is an India-led intergovernmental international organisation established for the conservation of seven big cat species: tiger, lion, leopard, snow leopard, cheetah, jaguar, and puma. It was formally launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 9 April 2023 at Mysuru, Karnataka, during a mega event commemorating the 50th anniversary of Project Tiger — India’s flagship wildlife conservation programme launched in 1973.
The idea dates further back: PM Modi had first called for an “Alliance of Global Leaders” to curb poaching during the Global Tiger Day address on 29 July 2019. The Union Cabinet approved IBCA’s establishment on 29 February 2024. India committed an initial budgetary support of ₹150 crore (≈ $18 million) over five years from 2023–24 to 2027–28.
The IBCA is modelled broadly on the International Solar Alliance (ISA) — another India-initiated intergovernmental body. Its governance structure comprises a General Assembly (apex decision-making body), a Standing Committee, and a Secretariat based in New Delhi. It officially became a treaty-based intergovernmental organisation and international legal entity on 23 January 2025, when its Framework Agreement came into force after ratification by five countries: Nicaragua, Eswatini, India, Somalia, and Liberia.
Think of the IBCA like the WHO — but specifically for big cats. Just as the WHO coordinates global health responses across countries, the IBCA coordinates big cat conservation: sharing data, funding poorer nations, tackling cross-border poaching, and setting shared standards. India leads it, much like it leads the International Solar Alliance for clean energy cooperation.
✨ Membership Structure and Scope
IBCA membership is open to all United Nations member states — both range countries (where big cats naturally occur) and non-range countries that wish to support global conservation. The alliance is designed to reach out to 97 range countries covering the natural habitats of all seven big cat species.
The five observer nations are: Kazakhstan, Namibia, Thailand, Ecuador, and Vietnam. The 25 members prior to Saudi Arabia’s accession included India, Angola, Armenia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Egypt, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Paraguay, Russia, Rwanda, Somalia, and Sri Lanka. Russia and Nepal are among the more recently joined members, having acceded in December 2025 and August 2025 respectively.
| Big Cat Species | IUCN Status | Found in India? |
|---|---|---|
| Tiger | Endangered | ✅ Yes (~70–75% of world total) |
| Lion (Asiatic) | Endangered | ✅ Yes (Gir, Gujarat — sole habitat) |
| Leopard | Vulnerable | ✅ Yes (widespread) |
| Snow Leopard | Vulnerable | ✅ Yes (Himalayas, Ladakh) |
| Cheetah | Vulnerable | ✅ Yes (reintroduced, Kuno NP, MP) |
| Jaguar | Vulnerable | ❌ No (Americas) |
| Puma | Least Concern | ❌ No (Americas) |
Don’t confuse: India is home to 5 of the 7 IBCA big cat species — tiger, lion, leopard, snow leopard, and cheetah. Jaguar and puma are found only in the Americas (Latin America). A common MCQ trap is asking how many big cat species are found in India — the answer is five, not seven.
🌑 Saudi Arabia and the Arabian Leopard
Saudi Arabia is not a conventional big cat range country, but it has an active and internationally recognised programme for the Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) — one of the world’s most critically endangered felids. With an estimated wild population of only around 120 individuals, it is among the rarest leopard subspecies on the planet.
Saudi Arabia’s Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) manages the Arabian Leopard Conservation Breeding Centre in Taif. Since RCU assumed management in 2020, the captive population has more than doubled, with seven cubs born in 2023 and five in 2024 — including a rare set of triplets. In early 2025, the Taif centre became the first wildlife institution in Saudi Arabia to receive accreditation from the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA). RCU has also begun construction of an Arabian Leopard Rewilding Centre at Sharaan, aimed at reintroduction to the wild.
Saudi conservation diplomacy has extended internationally. In March 2026, the RCU made a $51.6 million donation to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington D.C. — the largest gift in the zoo’s history — to fund a new Arabian leopard habitat set to open in 2029. This has been described as a form of “animal diplomacy” analogous to China’s panda programme.
Saudi Arabia’s $51.6 million donation to the Smithsonian’s National Zoo for an Arabian leopard habitat has been compared to China’s panda diplomacy. Both involve using rare animal conservation as a tool of soft power. How does IBCA membership fit into Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 strategy of diversifying its global image beyond oil and geopolitics?
🐯 India’s Big Cat Conservation Record and IBCA’s Rationale
India provides the institutional credibility underpinning the IBCA. The country is home to five of the seven big cat species and accounts for approximately 70–75 per cent of the world’s wild tiger population. The 2022 Tiger Census estimated 3,167 tigers — up from 2,967 in 2018–19 and fewer than 1,800 in 2010. Gir National Park in Gujarat remains the world’s sole habitat for the Asiatic lion, whose population grew from fewer than 200 in the late 1960s to 674 per the 2020 census.
India reintroduced cheetahs from Namibia and South Africa to Kuno National Park, Madhya Pradesh beginning in September 2022 under Project Cheetah — the first intercontinental wild-to-wild translocation of a large carnivore in history.
The rationale for IBCA rests on three realities: big cats are keystone species whose presence regulates entire ecosystems; poaching and illegal wildlife trade are transnational crimes requiring multilateral action; and many range countries lack the financial resources or technical capacity to implement modern conservation programmes independently.
Project Tiger was launched in 1973 by PM Indira Gandhi. The IBCA was launched exactly on its 50th anniversary — 9 April 2023. India currently has 53 Tiger Reserves across the country. The tiger census is conducted every four years by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
🌍 1st IBCA Summit 2026 and the Delhi Declaration
The 1st IBCA Summit is scheduled for 1 June 2026 at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, followed by technical sessions on 1–2 June at Hotel Taj Palace. The summit is expected to bring together Heads of State and Heads of Government from member and observer countries, along with over 400 stakeholders. The summit’s theme is “Save Big Cats, Save Humanity, Save Ecosystem.”
The central anticipated outcome is the adoption of the Delhi Declaration — the first-ever global declaration exclusively on big cat conservation. It is expected to articulate shared international priorities, strengthen transboundary cooperation, promote a landscape-based conservation approach, and align big cat protection with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). India is also collaborating with African nations on cheetah reintroduction and with Cambodia on tiger translocation — practical partnerships the summit is designed to formalise.
The Delhi Declaration, if adopted, would be the first binding normative framework placing big cat conservation at the centre of global biodiversity governance. How does IBCA compare to CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) in its approach to wildlife protection? Consider: CITES focuses on trade controls, while IBCA focuses on habitat, knowledge sharing, and funding — two complementary but distinct approaches.
⚖️ Global Context: Big Cats Under Threat
All seven big cat species covered by IBCA face varying degrees of threat:
- Cheetah: World’s fastest land animal; smallest wild population at roughly 7,000 individuals; classified as Vulnerable
- Snow Leopard: Found at high altitudes across Central Asia including India’s Himalayas and Ladakh; estimated 4,000–6,500 in the wild; classified as Vulnerable
- Jaguar: Apex predator of the Americas; classified as Vulnerable; habitat loss in the Amazon is the primary driver of decline
- Lion: West African lion subpopulation classified as Critically Endangered; now occupies a fraction of its historical range
Key threats shared across species include habitat fragmentation, prey depletion, human–wildlife conflict, poaching for skins and bones, and climate-driven ecosystem disruption. IBCA’s landscape-based approach — integrating livelihood security for communities living alongside big cats with long-term habitat conservation — is considered critical to reducing human–wildlife conflict, the leading proximate cause of big cat deaths in most range countries.
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IBCA was formally launched by PM Narendra Modi on 9 April 2023 at Mysuru, Karnataka, during the 50th anniversary of Project Tiger (1973).
Five of the seven IBCA species are found in India: tiger, lion, leopard, snow leopard, and cheetah (reintroduced). Jaguar and puma are native to the Americas.
IBCA became a treaty-based international legal entity on 23 January 2025, when its Framework Agreement was ratified by Nicaragua, Eswatini, India, Somalia, and Liberia.
Saudi Arabia became the first Arab country to join the IBCA. It joined just ten days before the 1st IBCA Summit on 1 June 2026, boosting the summit’s diplomatic profile.
India accounts for approximately 70–75 per cent of the world’s wild tiger population. The 2022 Tiger Census estimated 3,167 tigers, up from fewer than 1,800 in 2010.
