AN approves agreement on big cats in the first discussion

Published at: 21/08/2026 04:08 PM

The National Assembly (AN) approved this Friday, in the first discussion and unanimously, the Bill Approving the Framework Agreement for the Establishment of the International Alliance of Big Cats, an instrument that integrates the country into a multilateral platform for the conservation of these species and avoiding their extinction.

In a special session, the deputy Oliver Rivas explained that the agreement promotes global cooperation to protect seven key species and their habitats, in addition to facilitating access to international funding, technology and specialized programs in preservation; the parliamentarian specified that the initiative protects the jaguar, the puma, the tiger, the cunaguaro, the jaguar and the oncilla, and that at the national level he will concentrate direct actions for the protection of jaguars and pumas.

Rivas noted that the ratification of the treaty will open technical channels for the exchange of scientific data with more than 90 nations and stressed: “This joint effort will reinforce local wildlife monitoring policies and the fight against poaching in the territory”; he also indicated that the regulatory framework will promote the recovery of strategic habitats in the Amazon basin, Venezuelan Guiana and the Andean-coastal mountain range, regions that, he said, host priority biodiversity threatened by deforestation and trade illegal.

For his part, Deputy Martín López Ríos, from the Democratic Alliance caucus, stressed that the adoption of this agreement ratifies the State's commitment to multilateral ecological agreements and reiterated that the law provides for the technical training of specialized personnel for the management of protected natural areas in the country.

The project was referred to a special commission made up of the standing committees on Foreign Policy, Sovereignty and Integration and Ecosocialism, in order to prepare the corresponding report for the second discussion of the legal text.

Mazo News Team