Project Cheetah: India's Landmark Wildlife Restoration Initiative Shows Strong Progress and Promising Future

📌 Summary:

• A high-level review meeting of Project Cheetah, chaired by Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav, assessed the programme's progress ahead of the first International Big Cat Alliance Summit 2026.

• Project Cheetah is a pioneering initiative to reintroduce the cheetah in India after its extinction in the country; the founder population of 20 cheetahs came from Namibia and South Africa, supplemented by 9 cheetahs from Botswana.

• The current population stands at 53 cheetahs, of which 33 are Indian-born, reflecting successful acclimatisation and reproduction; survival rates of introduced individuals and cubs match or exceed global benchmarks.

• A landscape-based approach is used: Kuno National Park is the primary site and Gandhisagar Wildlife Sanctuary an additional habitat; the Banni grasslands in Gujarat and Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh are being prepared as new sites.

• The next phase will focus on consolidation and expansion through additional translocations, a metapopulation framework across identified landscapes, and sustained sourcing of cheetahs from African countries to maintain genetic diversity.

• The project is positioned as a globally significant conservation initiative expected to contribute to the restoration of open natural ecosystems in India.

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS3 — Environment and Biodiversity; species reintroduction, wildlife conservation, and restoration of open natural ecosystems.

📝 Prelims Facts:

• The cheetah was declared extinct in India in 1952; it is being reintroduced under Project Cheetah, launched in 2022.

• Founder cheetahs came from Namibia and South Africa, supplemented by Botswana.

• Sites: Kuno National Park and Gandhisagar Wildlife Sanctuary (Madhya Pradesh); future sites include the Banni grasslands (Gujarat) and Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary (Madhya Pradesh).

• Current cheetah population: 53, of which 33 are Indian-born.

🔑 Key Term: Metapopulation — a set of spatially separated populations of a species linked by dispersal and managed together to ensure genetic exchange and long-term survival.