India to Host Global Big Cats Summit in 2026, Links Big Cat Protection to Climate Action

India will host Global Big Cats Summit in 2026 and has linked Big Cat Conservation directly with Climate Mitigation, Adaptation and Ecosystem Resilience.

Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav in his address at the High-Level Ministerial Segment on International Big Cat Allaince (IBCA) at UNFCCC CoP30, at Belém, Brazil, on Monday reiterated India’s global leadership on Big Cat Conservation and said wildlife conservation is climate action in its most Natural Form.

He called for renewed global cooperation to protect big cat species and their habitats as part of integrated climate and biodiversity action, an official spokesman said here on Tuesday.

Emphasizing that ecological challenges today are deeply interconnected and require linked solutions, the Minister noted that Big cats are apex predators, regulators of ecological balance, and sentinels of ecosystem health. “Where big cats thrive, forests are healthier, grasslands regenerate, water systems function, and carbon is stored efficiently in living landscapes”.

He also highlighted that decline in big cat populations lead to destabilized ecosystems, weakened resilience to climate change, and loss of natural carbon sinks.

Highlighting ‘Big Cat Landscapes’ as ‘Nature-Based Climate Solutions’, the Minister called for nature-based climate action to be central in future Nationally Determined Contribution (NDCs).

“What we often call ‘wildlife conservation’ is, in fact, climate action in its most natural form,” he said and added that conserving big cat landscapes directly strengthens carbon sequestration, watershed protection, disaster risk reduction, climate adaptation, and sustainable livelihoods.

The Minister highlighted IBCA’s potential to support countries through technical assistance, standardized tools, capacity building, south–south cooperation, and mobilization of blended finance and biodiversity-carbon credit mechanisms.

About India’s role as home to five of the world’s seven big cat species, the Minister outlined the country’s major conservation successes.

“India doubled its tiger population ahead of the target timeline and our Asiatic lion population continues to grow well”, he said.

He pointed out that India has built one of the world’s most comprehensive wildlife databases through nationwide population assessments of tigers, lions, leopards and snow leopards while expanding protected areas, securing corridors, and partnering with local communities for conservation and eco-based livelihoods.

Seventeen countries are formally associated with IBCA, with over 30 more expressing willingness to join.

The Minister highlighted India’s ambition of bringing all big cat range countries, and all nations valuing biodiversity and climate security, into the IBCA.

Calling for global cooperation, the Minister stressed that the world stands at a moment of ecological realignment that requires unity and collaboration. “We must collaborate, not compete. We must find strength not in isolation, but in solidarity”, he stated.

India also unveiled its publication ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future: A Decade of Climate Action’, a comprehensive overview of national progress, state leadership, adaptation efforts, climate finance, and the pathway to a Viksit and Sustainable Bharat 2047.