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PERSPECTIVE article

Front. Conserv. Sci.
Sec. Conservation Social Sciences
Volume 6 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcosc.2025.1511815
This article is part of the Research Topic Advancing the Science of Environmental Justice in the International Wildlife Trade View all 5 articles

Delineating the environmental justice implications of an experimental cheetah introduction project in India

Provisionally accepted
Yashendu Chinmayee Joshi Yashendu Chinmayee Joshi 1Stephanie-Emmy Klarmann Stephanie-Emmy Klarmann 2*
  • 1 Centre for Wildlife Studies, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
  • 2 University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Project Cheetah in Kuno National Park was initiated to establish a population of African cheetahs in India due to the Asiatic subspecies' extinction in the country since the 1950s. The project has received criticism from international conservationists for lacking conservation and scientific merit. Conservationists, particularly from India and South Africa, have raised concerns regarding the ecological criteria guiding its decision-making and concerns regarding a lack of scientific evidence in addition to potential political motivations. The concerns raised by the international community suggest the project may not solely focus on conserving the African cheetah, which is classified as 'Vulnerable' by the IUCN, but could be guided by other agendas outside of conservation. Several cheetahs have died in the project's couple of years, raising ethical concerns regarding the cheetahs' welfare and high mortality rates demonstrated thus far, in addition to the perceived unjust social impacts on local stakeholders. In this perspective piece, we use Project Cheetah as a case study to exemplify broader issues applicable to rewilding and restoration projects that necessitate attention by proponents and authorities responsible for issuing CITES import and export permits.

    Keywords: cheetah relocations, environmental justice, Ecological justice, legal wildlife trade, Evidence based decision-making

    Received: 15 Oct 2024; Accepted: 08 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Joshi and Klarmann. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Stephanie-Emmy Klarmann, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

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