India And Namibia Sign MoU For Wildlife Conservation

Tags: National International News

India and Namibia on 20 July signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Wildlife Conservation and Sustainable Biodiversity Use to place the Cheetah in the Historic Category in India.

Thrust areas of the MoU

• Biodiversity conservation with a special focus on the conservation and restoration of cheetahs in areas where they became extinct.

• Exchange of expertise and capabilities with the aim of promoting cheetah conservation between the two countries.

• Wildlife conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity by sharing good practices

• Technological applications, mechanisms of livelihood generation for local communities living in wildlife habitats and sustainable management of biodiversity.

• Cooperation in climate change, environmental governance, environmental impact assessment, pollution and waste management and other areas of mutual interest.

• Training and exchange of trained personnel in wildlife management including sharing of technical expertise, wherever relevant.

About Cheetah

• The cheetah is one of the oldest of the big cat species, whose ancestors can be traced back more than five million years to the Miocene era.

• It is the world's fastest land mammal that lives in Africa and Asia.

• Human-wildlife conflict, habitat loss and hunting and illegal trafficking are the reasons for their extinction in India.

Cheetah reintroduction project in India

• The main goal of the project is to establish viable cheetah metapopulation in India that allows the cheetah to perform its functional role as a top predator.

• The surveys were conducted at 10 locations between 2010 and 2012.

• Under this project, 50 cheetahs will be introduced in various national parks of the country over a period of 5 years.