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India Released Its First Comprehensive National Conservation Framework for the Caracal, Fishing Cat and Clouded Leopard

Wild caracal sitting in dry grassland
Conservation · Management

The Wildlife Institute of India released a national conservation action plan for the caracal (Caracal caracal), fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus) and clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) on 4 August 2026. The 220-page technical report provides the country’s first comprehensive science-based national framework for the long-term conservation of the three priority felids.

The action plan was prepared under the Government of India–UNDP–GEF-7 project “Strengthening Conservation and Resilience of Globally Significant Wild Cats through a Focus on Small Cat and Leopard Conservation”. Wildlife Institute of India researchers combined scientific reviews, spatial analyses, stakeholder consultations and a Strategic Environmental and Social Assessment when developing the framework.

Caracal priorities in western drylands

For the caracal, the plan focuses on the arid and semi-arid landscapes of western India, where the species’ remaining populations are fragmented. An earlier presentation of the framework by the Wildlife Institute of India identified restoration of scrub and ravine habitats and metapopulation management as priority actions for the species.

A coordinated framework across landscapes

The broader plan identifies priority conservation landscapes, assesses species status and threats and sets out landscape-specific management actions. It also includes monitoring frameworks, capacity building, habitat restoration and policy measures intended to coordinate conservation across states and agencies.

All three species are protected under Schedule I of India’s Wildlife (Protection) Act, yet national conservation attention has historically centred more strongly on larger felids. The Wildlife Institute of India describes habitat loss, prey depletion and other human pressures as important factors behind fragmented and declining populations of the three small and medium-sized cat species covered by the plan.

Different priorities for different ecosystems

The framework also integrates climate resilience and community participation. For the three species, the recommended approaches differ according to their ecosystems: scrub and ravine restoration and metapopulation management for caracals in western India, wetland protection and conflict mitigation for fishing cats, and forest connectivity and monitoring for clouded leopards in the eastern Himalaya and Northeast India.

Sources and image credit

  1. Wildlife Institute of India (2026) — Conservation Action Plan for caracal, Fishing cat & Clouded Leopard (Technical Report 2026)Primary official release dated 4 August 2026. WII describes the 220-page report as the first comprehensive science-based national framework for long-term conservation of caracal, fishing cat and clouded leopard in India. The framework identifies priority landscapes, assesses status and threats, and recommends landscape-specific management, monitoring, capacity building, habitat restoration and policy measures.
  2. Wildlife Institute of India — 36th Annual Research Seminar: Developing a Conservation Action Plan Framework for elusive small and medium wild felidsOfficial WII project abstract describing the framework for all three felids. It identifies western Indian arid and semi-arid landscapes for caracal, wetlands for fishing cat and eastern Himalayan and Northeast Indian forests for clouded leopard, with corresponding priorities for habitat restoration, conflict mitigation, connectivity and monitoring.

Image: Gopal Vijayaraghavan — wild caracal (Caracal caracal), photographed 7 September 2009; originally published on Flickr and available via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0. Representative species image; not an individual from the Indian conservation action plan. · CC BY 2.0 · Source

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