Guwahati: India’s conservation roadmap for the clouded leopard has placed the Northeast at the heart of efforts to save one of Asia’s most elusive big cats, identifying 14 priority landscapes across the region that stretch from the Himalayan foothills to the forests bordering Bangladesh and Myanmar.
The 2026 Conservation Action Plan for Caracal, Fishing Cat and Clouded Leopard, prepared by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), describes the Northeast as the country’s principal stronghold for the clouded leopard and proposes landscape-level conservation that transcends state and international boundaries. International Clouded Leopard Day is observed on August 4.
The action plan identifies conservation landscapes covering Sikkim, West Bengal, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura, including several transboundary habitats linked with Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
The document argues that conserving these connected forests is essential for maintaining viable clouded leopard populations.
Among the priority landscapes identified are West Bengal-Assam linked with Bhutan; Assam-Arunachal Pradesh; Assam; Assam-Nagaland; Assam-Meghalaya; Meghalaya linked with Bangladesh; Meghalaya; Mizoram linked with Myanmar; Mizoram-Tripura linked with Bangladesh; and Tripura linked with Bangladesh.
The report comes at a time when several northeastern states have intensified conservation efforts. Meghalaya has launched Mission Clouded Leopard, while camera-trap studies from protected areas in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram continue to reveal the species’ presence in forests where scientific information has long remained sparse.
Describing the clouded leopard as one of India’s most overlooked wild cats, the report warns that despite receiving the highest legal protection under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, the species continues to face mounting threats from habitat fragmentation, deforestation, poaching and declining prey populations.
Globally, fewer than 10,000 mature clouded leopards are believed to survive, with populations declining by more than 30 per cent over the past three generations.
The WII notes that conservation efforts for the species have so far been fragmented, with limited scientific data and little coordination across landscapes.
The new action plan seeks to change that by prioritising research, habitat restoration, population monitoring, anti-poaching measures and community participation, while integrating climate resilience into wildlife management.
The document also calls for stronger cooperation between neighbouring states and countries, recognising that clouded leopards move across political borders through interconnected forest corridors. Such transboundary coordination, it says, will be critical to ensuring the long-term survival of the species in the Eastern Himalayas and Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot.
Beyond the clouded leopard, the report proposes separate recovery strategies for the fishing cat and Asiatic caracal.
However, unlike the caracal, whose remaining population is largely confined to western India, the future of the clouded leopard is closely tied to the forests of the Northeast, making the region central to India’s long-term conservation strategy.
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