India is about to host the world’s first summit dedicated entirely to big cats
Later this year, New Delhi will host an event that has never happened before: a global summit devoted entirely to the conservation of the world’s big cats. Heads of state and ministers from 95 countries are expected to attend. The agenda covers tigers, lions, leopards, snow leopards, cheetahs, jaguars, and pumas — seven species, one platform, and a shared acknowledgement that no single country can save any of them alone.
The summit was announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Union Budget 2026 speech, making it one of the few wildlife initiatives to be named from the floor of Parliament. It will be organised under the International Big Cat Alliance, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 9 April 2023 to mark 50 years of Project Tiger, and formally constituted as a treaty-based intergovernmental organisation in January 2025. India holds the headquarters.
The context for this summit matters. India is home to five of the seven big cat species — the Bengal tiger, Asiatic lion, Indian leopard, snow leopard, and the reintroduced African cheetah at Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh. It hosts over 75 per cent of the world’s wild tigers and the only surviving wild population of Asiatic lions. That conservation credibility, built painstakingly over five decades since Project Tiger’s launch in 1973, is precisely what gives India the standing to convene this conversation.
But credibility cuts both ways. The summit arrives at a moment when India’s own big cat story is more complicated than the headline numbers suggest. Tiger populations inside reserves are reaching saturation; younger animals are dispersing into human-dominated landscapes, bringing conflict with them. Leopards, thriving in Maharashtra, have overwhelmed rescue infrastructure and are being transferred to a private facility in Gujarat. The cheetah reintroduction at Kuno remains a work in progress, with mortality rates higher than hoped. Hosting a summit on big cat conservation while navigating these pressures at home will require India to speak with both authority and candour.
Conservation ecologist Sumit Dookia, speaking to Down to Earth, noted the alliance’s particular value for transboundary species: the snow leopard spans multiple Inner Asian nations, the Amur tiger crosses Russia, China and the Koreas, and the tiger connects South and Southeast Asia in ways that no single government can manage. The summit’s focus on corridor connectivity, anti-poaching intelligence sharing, and a global big cat fund could, if it produces concrete commitments, mark a genuine shift in how the world coordinates on apex predator conservation.
Exact dates are yet to be confirmed. IWN will report as the details emerge.
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Sources: Down to Earth · The Print · IBCA