{"id":59101,"date":"2025-11-13T19:02:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T13:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=59101"},"modified":"2025-11-15T15:51:55","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T10:21:55","slug":"india-botswana-cheetah-translocation-pact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/13-11-2025\/india-botswana-cheetah-translocation-pact","title":{"rendered":"India, Botswana Cheetah Translocation Pact"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS3\/ Environment<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>In News<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>India and Botswana formally announced the translocation of eight Cheetahs to India as a part of <strong>\u2018Project Cheetah\u2019.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>India declared the <strong>cheetah extinct in 1952<\/strong>, after decades of over-hunting, habitat fragmentation, and depletion of prey species.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The launch of Project Cheetah in 2022 and the arrival of cheetahs from Namibia and South Africa created the world\u2019s first intercontinental relocation programme for a large carnivore.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>And, <strong>Botswana, a landlocked country <\/strong>with nearly 70% of its landmass covered by the<strong> Kalahari Desert<\/strong>, holds one of the world\u2019s largest wild cheetah populations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Project Cheetah<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Overview: <\/strong>Project Cheetah is India\u2019s ambitious attempt to reintroduce the cheetah in suitable open forest and grassland ecosystems.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Launched By<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/01-01-2022\/tiger-deaths-in-india\">National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA)<\/a>, a statutory body under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 (amended 2006).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Objective:<\/strong> To reintroduce cheetahs into India\u2019s grassland ecosystems and establish a viable, free-ranging cheetah population.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Global First<\/strong>: It is the world\u2019s first intercontinental translocation of a large wild carnivore.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Translocations So Far:<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>8 cheetahs from Namibia in 2022<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>12 cheetahs from South Africa in 2023<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>8 cheetahs from Botswana (2025 announcement)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Significance of Reintroducing the Cheetah<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Ecological Restoration:<\/strong> Cheetahs, as apex predators, help regulate prey populations and maintain the health of grassland and open forest ecosystems. Their reintroduction is expected to restore ecological balance and revive degraded grassland biomes.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Biodiversity Conservation:<\/strong> The cheetah serves as a flagship and umbrella species, helping conserve not only its prey-base but also other endangered species in grassland and semi-arid ecosystems.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Sustainable Livelihoods:<\/strong> The project aims to boost ecotourism and create economic opportunities for local communities through eco-development and conservation-driven activities.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Global Conservation:<\/strong> Project Cheetah contributes to the global effort to conserve the cheetah species, especially the vulnerable African cheetah and the critically endangered Asiatic cheetah.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Concerns and Challenges<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Habitat Suitability: <\/strong>Kuno is relatively small for a long-term, self-sustaining cheetah population.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>High Mortality: <\/strong>Several deaths (disease, conflict, heat stress) have been recorded since 2023 have raised questions about preparedness, disease screening, and enclosure design.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Human\u2013Wildlife Conflict:<\/strong> Cheetahs may venture into farmland due to porous boundaries. India lacks a historical memory of living with cheetahs, creating management gaps.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Climate and Ecological Mismatch:<\/strong> African cheetahs are adapted to open savannahs; India\u2019s landscapes are patchier. India\u2019s prey density still needs improvement in some sites.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#ebecf0\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>About the Cheetah<\/strong><br>&#8211; The <strong>cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus)<\/strong> is the world\u2019s fastest mammal and the only large carnivore to have gone extinct in India (1952).<br>&#8211; \u200bUnlike other big cats, cheetahs do not roar.<br>&#8211; \u200bThere are <strong>two main species:<\/strong> the <strong>African cheetah (Vulnerable) and the Asiatic cheetah (Critically Endangered)<\/strong>, found only in eastern Iran and parts of Africa.\u200b<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Source: TH<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong>In News<\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">India and Botswana formally announced the translocation of eight Cheetahs to India as a part of \u2018Project Cheetah\u2019.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong>About<\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">India declared the cheetah extinct in 1952, after decades of over-hunting, habitat fragmentation, and depletion of prey species.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">The launch of Project Cheetah in 2022 and the arrival of cheetahs from Namibia and South Africa created the world\u2019s first intercontinental relocation programme for a large carnivore.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">And, Botswana, a landlocked country with nearly 70% of its landmass covered by the Kalahari Desert, holds one of the world\u2019s largest wild cheetah populations.<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/13-11-2025\/india-botswana-cheetah-translocation-pact\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read\u00a0More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59101"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59198,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59101\/revisions\/59198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}