Mysore/Mysuru: The second Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) executive course, organised by International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA) will be held from Feb. 9 to 13 at Bandipur and Nagarahole Tiger Reserve Forests. The first ITEC programme was conducted in Kaziranga National Park in February 2025.

The course assumes significance as India is set to host the first-ever Global Big Cat Summit where Ministers from 95 range countries will deliberate on collective strategies for conservation, as announced by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday last.

The ITEC programme offers capacity-building courses for wildlife conservationists. The initiative focuses on sharing expertise, strengthening global collaboration and implementing best practices for protecting seven major big cat species.

On Feb. 8: Delegates will arrive in Bengaluru and participate in the inaugural session.

On Feb. 9: The delegates will travel to Bandipur and Nagarahole forests to study the best practices for big cat conservation, active management, protection and smart patrolling and technology aide wildlife  conservation.

On Feb. 10: Topic for study is ‘Ecosystem restoration and management; Landscape conservation approaches and management effective evaluation.’

On Feb. 11: Topic for study is ‘Ecosystem evaluation, human-wildlife interface, mitigation of inner infrastructures, community stewardship and sustainable eco-tourism.’

On Feb. 12: Visit to Nagarahole and country presentations is scheduled to be held.

On Feb. 13: Country presentations, conservation financing and valedictory session will be held.

Key resource persons are: Soumitra Dasgupta, IBCA, Subhash Malkhede, B.K. Singh, Dr. Aith Mallick from Global Tiger Forum, Dr. K. Ramesh, Wildlife Institute of India, Harini Venugopal, National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), P.A. Seema, Director of Nagarahole Tiger Reserve, S. Prabhakaran, Bandipur Tiger Reserve, Dr. Dipankar Ghose, WWF India, Dr. Madhu Verma, IORA Ecological Solution, Dr. Prabir Deshmukh, Confederation of Indian Industry and Dr. Kaushik Banerjee of IBCA.