BRICS, Big Cats, and the Business of Connected Landscapes

Source: Hindustan Times | Original Published At: 2026-09-24 07:41:13 UTC

Key Points

• The New Delhi Declaration notes BRICS countries’ vulnerability and encourages cooperation on big cat conservation, referencing India’s International Big Cat Alliance.
• Expanded BRICS accounts for nearly half the world’s population and more than a quarter of global economic output while managing growth, infrastructure, and climate risks.
• Ecosystem degradation can affect productivity, supply chains, and climate resilience, with the World Bank estimating that a partial collapse of three ecosystem services could lower global real GDP by $2.7 trillion by 2030.
• Big cats require large, connected landscapes, and a 2025 study found that suitable snow leopard habitat in China’s Xinjiang could decline by about 17% by the 2070s under the highest-emissions scenario.
• The India-Nepal Terai Arc shows how cross-border protected areas and corridors can support tiger movement and landscape connectivity.
• BRICS cooperation could share experience on corridors, habitat monitoring, human-wildlife conflict, and infrastructure planning, especially where big-cat landscapes cross borders.