Alliance looks for corporate funds in big cat conservation

Bengaluru: The International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA) will focus on bringing corporate funds for the conservation of habitats that support tigers, leopards, cheetah and others.

Speaking after the inauguration of a technical course, director (programmes) of IBCA Soumitra Dasgupta said IBCA would play the dual role of highlighting India’s conservation stories as well as facilitating funding of green projects.

He pointed to the limited government fundings (less than 1% of GDP) and said pooling in resources from private sector will help corporations in species and landscape conservation, capacity building and protecting biodiversity. 

Dasgupta said they would reach out to Green Climate Fund or other arms of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, to bring in international finance for conservation.

Asked about possible conflict of interest in getting funds from corporates, sources in IBCA said steps would be taken to ensure that only companies that do not have such antecedents will participate in the programme.

Technical course

As many as 38 participants from 23 countries have arrived to take part in the course from February 9-13, in conservation to be held in Bandipur and Nagarahole tiger reserves.

Manoj Kumar, principal secretary, forest department, said the course was being conducted in a landscape which was currently facing multiple challenges. From habitat degradation to people’s participation in conservation, all aspects of challenges faced by the field officers will be studied amid sessions from resource persons, he added.