Human-wildlife interactions a challenge, but India’s coexistence-based management approach addressing them: Yadav

India acknowledged the growing challenge of human-wildlife interactions as wildlife populations and economic activity expand simultaneously, but affirmed tha...

What Happened

India acknowledged the growing challenge of human-wildlife interactions as wildlife populations and economic activity expand simultaneously, but affirmed that a coexistence-based management strategy is yielding measurable results.
Conservation efforts are now framed around habitat expansion and landscape-level connectivity rather than isolated protection of individual species, incorporating tigers, Asiatic lions, leopards, snow leopards, and cheetahs under a single multi-species framework.
The International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA), headquartered in India, is positioned to institutionalise cross-border cooperation on big cat conservation, with its first summit scheduled for June 1, 2026 in New Delhi under the theme "Big Cats, Save Humanity, Save Ecosystem."
A proposed "Delhi Declaration" is expected to be adopted at the IBCA summit, signalling a global commitment to big cat conservation across range states.

Static Topic Bridges

Project Tiger and India's Tiger Conservation Architecture

Launched in 1973, Project Tiger was India's first landscape-scale wildlife conservation programme. Initially covering nine tiger reserves spanning 18,278 km², it has expanded to 53 reserves across approximately 75,796 km². Administration is overseen by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), established under the Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Act, 2006.

India's tiger population reached a minimum of 3,167 as per the All India Tiger Estimation 2022, with an estimated range of 3,682 (average) to 3,925 (upper limit).
India hosts nearly 75% of the world's wild tiger population.
Annual tiger population growth rate has been approximately 6.1% per annum over recent census cycles.
Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Maharashtra recorded notable population increases in the 2022 census.

Connection to this news: India's tiger recovery is cited as a flagship success of the coexistence-based approach, demonstrating that human-dominated landscapes can support wildlife when managed as integrated ecosystems rather than purely exclusionary reserves.

Human-Wildlife Conflict: Nature, Causes, and Management Tools

Human-wildlife conflict arises when wildlife populations expand into or overlap with human-use areas — a structural outcome of conservation success combined with land-use pressure. Globally, it is the leading cause of retaliatory killing of large carnivores and a major driver of biodiversity loss.

Conflict mitigation tools in India include rapid response teams, compensation schemes for livestock losses, predator-proof livestock corrals, eco-tourism-linked livelihoods, and community awareness programmes.
Green corridors are established to link fragmented habitats, enabling safe wildlife movement and maintaining genetic diversity — critical for long-term population viability.
Snow leopard conservation under Project Snow Leopard has drastically reduced retaliatory killings through predator-proof corrals and wildlife-based livelihood programmes.
Community stewardship models treat people, livelihoods, and ecosystems as a single integrated system rather than competing interests.

Connection to this news: The shift from exclusionary conservation to coexistence management is central to India's stated approach — it acknowledges conflict as inevitable but addresses it through structural mitigation rather than relocation or lethal control.

International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA)

The International Big Cat Alliance was proposed by India in 2019 and formally launched in April 2023, with India as the host nation and primary funder. It aims to conserve seven big cat species: tigers, lions, leopards, snow leopards, cheetahs, pumas, and jaguars across their global range.

IBCA was launched with India's financial commitment of USD 100 million over five years.
Membership includes range countries across Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
The Alliance facilitates technical exchange, habitat corridor planning, anti-poaching cooperation, and funding for under-resourced range states.
India is the only country in the world that hosts five of the seven big cat species covered by IBCA: tigers, Asiatic lions, leopards, snow leopards, and cheetahs (the last reintroduced under Project Cheetah from 2022 onwards).

Connection to this news: IBCA represents the institutional infrastructure that elevates India's domestic coexistence model into a framework for multilateral conservation diplomacy, with the June 2026 summit its first major global convening.

Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and Conservation Law Framework

The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 is the principal legislation governing wildlife conservation and trade in India. It classifies species into Schedules with varying degrees of protection, establishes protected area categories (National Parks, Wildlife Sanctuaries, Conservation Reserves, Community Reserves), and prohibits hunting of scheduled species.

Schedule I species receive the highest level of protection; all five big cats found in India are Schedule I listed.
The 2022 amendment to the Act strengthened provisions on invasive species, trade regulation, and compliance with CITES obligations.
The Act empowers the Central Government to designate Tiger Reserves on the recommendation of the NTCA.
Community Reserves (introduced in the 2002 amendment) provide a legal mechanism for community-managed conservation outside strictly protected areas.

Connection to this news: The coexistence approach operates within the legal architecture of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, using Community Reserve provisions and NTCA guidelines to extend conservation beyond core protected areas into buffer zones and wildlife corridors.

Key Facts & Data

India tiger population (2022 census): minimum 3,167; estimated average 3,682; upper limit 3,925.
India has 53 tiger reserves covering approximately 75,796 km².
Project Tiger was launched in 1973; the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) was established in 2006.
The International Big Cat Alliance was launched in April 2023 with India as host and a USD 100 million, five-year commitment.
IBCA's first summit is scheduled for June 1, 2026 in New Delhi; the expected outcome is the adoption of a "Delhi Declaration."
India is the only nation hosting five of the seven big cat species covered by IBCA.
Snow leopard predator-proof corral programmes have significantly reduced retaliatory killings in high-altitude habitats.
India's steel sector demand is projected to grow 7.4% in 2026 (unrelated — see Article 5).