Sri Lanka has been formally welcomed as the newest member country of the India-led International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA), the alliance confirmed in a statement on Friday, May 1, formalising an agreement first announced during Indian Vice President C.P. Radhakrishnan’s two-day visit to Colombo in April.
“The International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA) warmly welcomes Sri Lanka as its newest Member Country,” the alliance said in a message posted on X, describing the move as “another collective step towards strengthening global cooperation for Big Cat conservation and a sustainable planet.”
The International Big Cat Alliance is an initiative launched by India to coordinate the conservation and protection of seven major big cat species globally: tiger, lion, leopard, snow leopard, cheetah, jaguar and puma. Of those, the leopard is the most relevant to Sri Lanka, with the island’s endemic Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Sri Lanka’s decision to join signals closer cooperation with India on wildlife conservation, environmental protection and biodiversity, the statement said.
The Big Cat Alliance announcement was one of several outcomes from Radhakrishnan’s Sri Lanka visit, which also produced agreements on housing for plantation workers, railway rehabilitation, scholarships, healthcare cooperation and endorsement of Mazagon Dock’s Colombo Dockyard takeover as a strategic investment.
India’s alliance was formally launched in 2023 as a platform for knowledge sharing, funding for conservation programmes and coordinated action against poaching and habitat loss. Sri Lanka’s membership adds a small island range state to a grouping dominated so far by larger mainland ecosystems.
