India launches Clouded Leopard Conservation Action Plan on International Clouded Leopard Day

Key facts

• India launched the Clouded Leopard Conservation Action Plan (CAP) on International Clouded Leopard Day, observed annually on August 4.
• The clouded leopard is listed under Schedule I of the Wild Life Protection Act (WPA), 1972, providing absolute protection from hunting, trade and possession.
• The species persists in small, isolated populations across Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur, Tripura, and northern parts of West Bengal and Bihar.
• There is still no reliable estimate of the species' total population in India.
• The CAP identifies 14 priority conservation landscapes across the Northeast.
• The action plan includes standardised scientific monitoring through camera traps, occupancy surveys, genetics and environmental DNA.
• The plan promotes community-based conservation and sustainable livelihood support, and encourages transboundary cooperation with neighbouring range countries.
• The clouded leopard is among the most evolutionarily distinct and least studied felids in Asia.