India wants to agree a pact with China to protect its fast dwindling tiger population from extinction, as part of a bid to capitalise on the goodwill created between the neighbours in their alliance during recent climate change talks.

Closer co-operation between the two countries is seen by some tiger conservationists as key to preserving India's few remaining big cats. A trans-Himalayan agreement to calibrate national strategies would be the first of its kind. India has an estimated 1,400 tigers in the wild.

Jairam Ramesh, India’s environment minister, said tiger conservation was part of a proposed bilateral agenda on environment and natural resources that included sharing information and expertise on Himalayan glaciers and regional water resources. He said a “special relationship” forged at the United Nations climate change talks in Copenhagen last year was ready to address a wider agenda.