• India and Namibia signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the reintroduction of cheetahs.

• The first batch comprising four male and as many female cheetahs will arrive from Namibia in August.

• The fastest land animal in the world will find a new home in the Kuno  National Park in Madhya Pradesh’s Sheopur district.

• The cheetah is the only large carnivore that got completely wiped out from India, mainly due to over-hunting and habitat loss. The last spotted feline died in 1948 in the Sal forests of Chhattisgarh’s Koriya district.

• Namibia has the world’s largest population of cheetahs.

• According to the pact, the two countries will share and exchange expertise and capacities to promote cheetah conservation in their ranges.

Significance of cheetah reintroduction

• Cheetah, the world’s fastest land animal, was declared extinct in the country in 1952.

• Cheetah is considered vulnerable under the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) red list of threatened species, with a declining population of less than 7,000 found primarily in African savannas.

• Cheetah has a very special significance for the national conservation ethic and ethos. Bringing the cheetah back to India would have equally important conservation ramifications. Cheetah reintroduction will be part of a prototype for restoration of original cheetah habitats and their biodiversity, helping to stem the degradation and rapid loss of biodiversity.

• At the first wildlife board meeting of Independent India in 1952, the government had “called for assigning special priority for the protection of the cheetahs in central India and a bold experimentation to preserve the cheetah” was suggested. 

• Subsequently, negotiations commenced with the Shah of Iran in the 1970s for bringing the Asiatic cheetah to India in exchange for Asiatic lions. Keeping in view the small Asiatic cheetah population of Iran and the genetic similarity between the Iranian and the African cheetah, it was decided that the latter would be introduced in India.

• Among large carnivores, conflict with human interests are lowest for cheetahs, as they are not a threat to humans and usually do not attack large livestock. Bringing back a top predator restores historic evolutionary balance resulting in cascading effects on various levels of the ecosystem leading to better management and restoration of wildlife habitat (grasslands, scrublands and open forest ecosystems), conservation of cheetah’s prey and sympatric endangered species and a top-down effect of a large predator that enhances and maintains the diversity in lower trophic levels of the ecosystems.

• The main goal of cheetah reintroduction project in India is to establish viable cheetah metapopulation in India that allows the cheetah to perform its functional role as a top predator and provides space for the expansion of the cheetah within its historical range thereby contributing to its global conservation efforts.

Why was Kuno National Park selected?

• Ten sites were surveyed between 2010 and 2012.

• Kuno National Park (KNP) in Madhya Pradesh was considered ready for receiving cheetahs with the least management interventions since a lot of investments had been done in this protected area for reintroducing Asiatic lions, which are also an endangered species.

• Spread over 748 sq km, KNP has an adequate prey base. It is devoid of human settlements, forms a part of the Sheopur-Shivpuri deciduous open forest landscape and is estimated to have a capacity to sustain 21 cheetahs.

• Once restored, the larger landscape can hold about 36 cheetahs. The carrying capacity can be further enhanced by including the remaining part of the Kuno Wildlife Division (1,280 sq km) through prey restoration.

• The action plan for cheetah translocations in KNP has been developed in compliance with International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) guidelines and considering site assessment and prey density, current cheetah carrying capacity of the national park, among other criteria.

• Financial and administrative support to the cheetah reintroduction programme in India would be provided by the ministry through the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA). 

Other key points of the MoU

The MoU facilitates development of a mutually beneficial relationship to promote wildlife conservation and sustainable biodiversity utilisation based on the principles of mutual respect, sovereignty, equality and the best interest of both India and Namibia.

The main thrust areas of MoU are:

• Sharing and exchange of expertise and capacities aimed at promoting cheetah conservation in two countries.

• Wildlife conservation and sustainable biodiversity utilisation by sharing good practices in technological applications, mechanisms of livelihood generation for local communities living in wildlife habitats, and sustainable management of biodiversity.

• Collaboration in areas of climate change, environmental governance, environmental impact assessments, pollution and waste management and other areas of mutual interest.

• Exchange of personnel for training and education in wildlife management, including sharing of technical expertise, wherever relevant.

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