Bringing the Cheetah Back to India How Diplomacy Made Conservation’s Big Mission Possible

Written by India’s High Commissioner to Namibia, the diplomat who led the negotiations that made the cheetah’s return possible ‘A rare inside account…where global negotiation meets ecological restoration.’ – Vikas Swarup, author, former ambassador ‘The story from the frontlines of the diplomatic negotiations that made it happen is a must-read.’ – Vivek Menon, wildlife conservationist, founder, Wildlife Trust of India ‘Bringing the cheetahs back to India was a bold project to restore a lost species.’ – Divyabhanusinh Chavda, wildlife expert, author of The End of a Trail: The Cheetah in India ‘Demonstrates how our diplomats work with deep personal commitment, and often below the radar, to accomplish complex, challenging missions.’ – Navtej Sarna, author, former ambassador A riveting account of the diplomatic effort to restore the cheetah in India For seventy years, India endured the absence of the cheetah, which had been hunted to extinction and erased from its grasslands. Bringing the world’s fastest land animal back to the country would require much more than scientific research or conservation programmes. It would require the vision and leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, and manoeuvring a world of diplomatic equations, alliances and high-stakes negotiations across continents. This book for the first time narrates the human drama behind one of conservation’s most ambitious experiments. From high offices in Namibia to fast-paced action in New Delhi, Bringing the Cheetah Back to India tells the astonishing story of how nations joined hands in a race against time to resurrect a ghost, restore an ecosystem and rewrite the rules of rewilding itself.