Overview
- The government formally launched the Clouded Leopard Conservation Action Plan on August 4 to unify protection across the species’ Indian range and to place the clouded leopard under the IDWH Species Recovery Programme.
- The CAP identifies 14 priority conservation landscapes in Northeast India and directs work on habitat protection, corridor restoration and landscape-level planning to reconnect fragmented forests.
- The plan prescribes standardised scientific monitoring using camera traps, occupancy surveys, genetics and environmental DNA so managers can produce the first reliable population estimates and track trends.
- Meghalaya launched a complementary Mission Clouded Leopard and expanded state surveys after a preliminary assessment in the Balpakram landscape recorded 21 individual animals, with wider statewide surveys now under way to inform management.
- Implementation will focus on strengthened anti-poaching and wildlife‑crime measures, frontline capacity building including M‑STrIPES use, community‑based forest management and transboundary cooperation to translate plans into on-the-ground protection.