Bangladesh became the 27th member of the International Big Cat Alliance

Bangladesh became the 27th member of the International Big Cat Alliance

¨     BangladeshBangladesh became the 27th member of the International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA) on 24 June 2026.

¨     The IBCA is a treaty-based inter-governmental international organization and a legal entity headquartered in New Delhi, India.

¨     The alliance was launched in April 2023 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the 50th anniversary of Project Tiger.

¨     It attained the status of a full-fledged treaty-based international organization on 23 January 2025.

¨     The alliance promotes international cooperation for the conservation of seven big cat species—Tiger, Lion, Leopard, Snow Leopard, Cheetah, Jaguar, and Puma.

¨     The Bangladesh Cabinet approved joining the alliance on 22 May 2026 following a proposal from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

¨     India, as a founding member, invited Bangladesh to join the alliance after bilateral discussions held on 8–9 April 2026.

¨     The discussions involved Pranay Verma, the Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh, and Abdul Awal Mintoo, Bangladesh’s Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

¨     The Bengal Tiger is a key species shared by India and Bangladesh through the Sundarbans ecosystem.

¨     The Sundarbans, located in the Ganga–Brahmaputra–Meghna Delta, is the world's largest mangrove forest and an important habitat for the Bengal tiger and several threatened species.