DashoVidya IAS–Syllabus Affairs

Environment (January, 2022)

TOPIC – ASIATIC LIONS

Issue in brief – How the introduction of African cheetahs to Kuno National Park could endanger
the Asiatic lion, which is earmarked for translocation to those forests
https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/why-the-asiatic-lion-and-the-african-
cheetah-could-be-pitted-against-each-other-in-kuno-national-park/article38272943.ece

Where in Syllabus:
GS 3: Conservation

❖ What conservation issues are being faced by the Asiatic lions?

• Asiatic lions were once distributed upto the state of West Bengal in east and Rewa in Madhya Pradesh,
in central India.
• At present Gir National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary is the only abode of the Asiatic lion.
• The lions face the usual threats of poaching and habitat fragmentation.
• There are also cases of lions dying by falling into the unguarded wells around the Gir Protected Area.
• The Asiatic lion faces threat of genetic inbreeding arising from a single population in one place.

❖ What steps have been taken by the government?

• In 2013, the Supreme Court ordered the government to relocate some of the Asiatic lions in Kuno
national park to enhance breeding and multiple location population as suggested by the experts.
• In 2020 The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) launched the
“Asiatic Lion Conservation Project” with an aim to protect and conserve the world’s last ranging
free population of Asiatic Lion and its associated ecosystem.
• The proposal seeks to create free ranging lion populations within Gujarat and in India to counter lack
of genetic diversity within Asiatic lions.
• Six new sites apart from the Kuno-Palpur Wildlife Sanctuary have been identified under Project Lion.

❖ What is the controversy?

Proposal to introduce the African cheetah
• On January 5 this year, MoEFCC unveiled
an action plan to introduce African
cheetahs in India. The idea was first floated
in 2009.
• Both lions and cheetahs came to the country
through a process of natural dispersal from
Africa thousands of years ago and roamed its
drier and more open habitats. Cheetahs had a
more extensive distribution than lions.
• There are no records of lions occurring south
of the Narmada River, but Asiatic cheetahs
roamed most of India until they were hunted
to extinction by 1947.
Action plan
• The ministry is planning to introduce the 12-14 adult cheetahs in five years from countries in southern
Africa and release in Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park.

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Environment (January, 2022)
• But the same site have already been identified by the scientists to reintroduce the Asiatic lion, which
were close to extinction in the early 1900s.
• In order to mitigate risks and enhance the conservation status of the species that is now restricted to
a single population in and around Gir forest in Gujarat.
Supreme Court vs Government
• In 2013, a judgment of the Forest Bench of the Supreme Court (SC) on lion translocation found
massive flaws with the proposed introduction of African cheetahs to Kuno.
• As arguments presented by SC Kuno is not a historical habitat for African cheetahs as well as no
evidence have been placed to establish this. Our top priority is to protect Asiatic lions, an endangered
species and to provide them a second home.

• The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), a statutory body of the MoEFCC, filed
affidavits in the Supreme Court stating that the cheetah introduction will not impact the reintroduction
of lions in any adverse manner.
• After the judgement NTCA sought the Court’s permission to explore the introduction of African
cheetahs to sites other than Kuno.
• In 2020 SC allowed the introduction African Cheetahs on an experimental basis in a careful
chosen habitat.
• An expert committee was appointed to guide the NTCA to choose the best location for African
cheetahs in India and decide the viability of introducing these on a larger scale.
• The government’s reports published in January 2021 says that due to delays in lion reintroduction,
Kuno was considered for cheetah introduction in 2010, and the NTCA affidavits assert that cheetah
introduction will not impact lion reintroduction.

❖ What is the governments objective?

• The plan states: “Once a cheetah population is established in Kuno National Park, reintroduction of
the lion or colonization by tigers would not be detrimental for cheetah persistence.”
• The action plan says that the cheetah, as a flagship species, could evoke a greater focus on the
predicament of the much-abused dry, open forest/ savanna ecosystems and the need to restore and
manage them.

❖ Why scientists are against the introduction of African Cheetahs to India?

• The introduction of African cheetahs cannot take precedence over translocating Asiatic lions from
Gujarat to Kuno National Park. Establishing an additional free-ranging wild lion population in Kuno
is of paramount importance.
• Since 2018, dozens of lions have died from diseases, opening up a frightening possibility of loss when
confined to a single location.
• According to the estimates in the action plan, even Kuno, which has been chosen as the first site for
the cheetah introduction can sustain only 21 cheetahs.
• Once a cheetah population establishes itself in about 15 years, the predicted scenario is that the
dispersers will colonise the landscape and potentially hold 36 individuals in 30-40 years.
• By implication it would delay the reintroduction of lions to Kuno by at least a decade as the cheetahs
have to establish themselves as a viable population first.
• There is an apprehension that the sites in which the cheetah would be introduced would largely end
up as glorified fenced safari parks rather than wild landscapes with self-sustaining populations.

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❖ What alternatives are being suggested by the experts?

• Scientists warn that we are adopting a lop-sided and illogical approach to conserve these neglected
ecosystems and their native fauna and flora. This is a laudable objective but there are far more direct,
faster and less expensive ways to achieve it.
• To protecting these habitats, the government should immediately abolish the land category of ‘wasteland’
that much of the country’s dry, open forest/ savanna ecosystems are currently categorised as.
• It should also ensure that no further fragmentation, degradation or change in land use is allowed in these
habitats. This could have an almost immediate on-ground conservation outcome.
• If there are any roadblocks, in the translocation of lions, they must be transparently addressed.

Asiatic lions African Cheetahs

Present habitat Gir national park and wildlife sanctuary From dry forests and thick scrubs
through grasslands and Sahara
deserts in Africa
Species Status Listed in Schedule I of Wildlife (Protection) Act Vulnerable on IUCN Red List
1972, in Appendix I of CITES and as Endangered
on IUCN Red List
Population 523 6674
across world
•

Basic terms/ related concepts and facts:

• Flagship species: A flagship species is a species selected to act as an ambassador, icon or symbol
for a defined habitat, issue, campaign or environmental cause.
• IUCN Red list: The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened
Species provides information about range, population size, habitat and ecology, use and/or trade,
threats, and conservation actions that will help inform necessary conservation decisions.

Practice questions
Prelims:
Q. At present the endangered Asiatic lions inhabit which of the following National parks?
1) Kuno National park
2) Gir National park
3) Panna National park
Select the correct answer from the code given below
a) 1 only
b) 2 only
c) 3 only
d) 1 and 2 only
Answer: b

Mains: (Level-Moderate)
Q. Briefly discuss the “Asiatic lion conservation project”. In this context critically analyse
government’s action plan to introduce African Cheetah in India (15Marks, 250 words)

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