Statsguru: Why is the cheetah reintroduction in India a challenge?

The Union government’s decision to bring back cheetahs to India has put wildlife conservation in focus.

India has over 100,000 species of fauna, a mark of above average biodiversity relative to the land it occupies. It has 2.4 per cent of the earth’s land area but between 7-8 per cent of all global species (chart 1).

The import of eight cheetahs from Namibia comes on the back of an increasing number of other big cats. The tiger population has been going up, according to estimates over the years, as is the population of lions. India had nearly 700 lions and 3,000 tigers at the last count. The numbers have improved significantly over the years (charts 2,3). The cheetah however, died out in India about 70 years ago, and questions have been raised whether such translocations can be successful. 

Another mammal species that India has managed to successfully hold on to is the elephant. The elephant population has stabilised at around the 30,000 mark going by the last available government figures (chart 4).

There are 94 mammals which fall in the list of threatened species in India. The number is larger for invertebrates with 135 threatened species. The most affected appear to be fish with 228 species finding their way to the threatened list (chart 5).

Conservation can be challenging at a time when 14.5 million people are said to be dependent on fishing for their livelihood. Attempts at sustainable fishing practices which incorporate fisherman’s wishes are said to be one way to address the issue.

The thrust for such efforts may increasingly come from the Centre. Central spending has accounted for an increasing share of domestic biodiversity expenditure (chart 6). Meanwhile, the share of threatened species has come down from 13.8 per cent in 2014 when 4,681 species were evaluated to 12.25 per cent when 5,507 species were evaluated in 2018.
 

StatsGuru is a weekly feature. Every Monday, Business Standard guides you through the numbers you need to know to make sense of the headlines