Why in the news?

  • The Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary, which spans the districts of Narasinghpur, Damoh, and Sagar in Madhya Pradesh, is set to become India’s third habitat for cheetahs.

Nauradehi Sanctuary

  • Location: Madhya Pradesh
  • Terrain & physiography:
    • Located on upper Vindhyan plateau
    • Forms part of Deccan Peninsular biogeographic region
    • It spans two major river basins- the Ganga (Yamuna tributary) basin and the Narmada basin.
  • Vegetation & habitat type: Tropical dry deciduous forest predominates, with teak being a major species.
  • Fauna: Home to various species including tigers, leopards, sloth bears, wild dogs, and the Indian wolf.

Project Cheetah

  • What is it?: Project Cheetah is an initiative by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change in coordination with National Tiger Conservation Authority.
  • Aim: To reintroduce the cheetah, a species that went extinct in India in 1952
  • Features:
    • The cheetahs being used are African subspecies (southern/eastern African cheetahs) sourced from countries such as Namibia, South Africa etc.
    • The project was formally kick-started in September 2022 with the first batch of cheetahs arriving in India to India’s first site.
    • Site selection: Choose large protected areas with adequate prey base, minimal human-disturbance, connectivity possibilities and appropriate habitat for open-terrain carnivores (cheetah prefers open/grassland/woodland mosaic).
    • Genetic diversity: Use cheetahs from multiple source populations to maintain genetic health of the reintroduced population.
    • Monitoring & management: Use collars, field monitoring, prey base augmentation, habitat management, community involvement.
    • Phased expansion: After initial pilot site(s), plan other sites and scale up to create a metapopulation structure (i.e., multiple sites connected via corridors).
  • Significance:
    • Biodiversity significance: Re-establishing a lost apex predator, which has ecological ramifications (grassland health, trophic cascades, open-land ecosystems).
    • Policy & governance: Illustrates India’s willingness to engage in large-scale species reintroduction (unprecedented for cheetah). Relates to global conservation commitments.
    • Socio-economic dimension: Potential for eco-tourism, local employment (guides, support services), community engagement; also raises questions of land use, human-wildlife interface, resettlement/compensation.
    • Strategic dimension: In India’s larger wildlife-conservation architecture (e.g., Tiger + Lion + Cheetah triad), signalling of open-grassland ecosystems often neglected in favour of forest/ tiger landscapes.
  • Challenges:
    • Deaths in early phase: Some of the cheetahs imported died due to medical issues, stress, possibly insufficient preparation.
    • Human-wildlife conflict & resettlement: Introducing large carnivores demands very stringent habitat/prey conditions and minimal human interface; relocation of villages or community support cannot be ignored.
    • Genetic/behavioural adaptation: African cheetahs into Indian ecosystem requires behavioural adaptation, predator-prey dynamics, diseases, climate may differ; thus long-term monitoring is crucial.
    • Open-grassland ecosystems (which cheetahs favour) have often been degraded, fragmented, under-valued compared to forested ecosystems, which necessitates habitat revival as a prerequisite for reintroduction.

 

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