India's grasslands are 'wastelands' in policy but biodiversity hotspots in reality. How can flagship species programmes correct this bias?

India's open grasslands and savannas once supported the cheetah from Punjab to Tirunelveli [1]. Yet policy has long treated treeless land as unproductive, fit for plantation or conversion. Flagship species programmes such as Project Cheetah can correct this, but only if the species is used to protect the whole habitat and not only itself.

Nature of the bias

• Tree-centric lens: Policy has seldom valued open ecosystems for themselves. It has more often seen them as land to afforest, farm or build on.
• Ecological cost: Habitat loss to agriculture and a decline in prey helped drive the cheetah to extinction in 1952 [1]. This shows that neglecting grasslands erodes whole food webs.

How flagship programmes can correct it

• Umbrella effect: Project Cheetah is designed as a flagship/umbrella species for grassland and semi-arid ecosystems, so restoring prey and habitat becomes a stated goal [1].
• Science-based valuation: The cheetah Action Plan worked out carrying capacity from prey density. Kuno's 748 km² can support only about 21 cheetahs [2], which makes grassland quality something planners can measure.
• Securing land: 24 villages were relocated, freeing about 6,258 ha of inviolate grassland [1]. A metapopulation (a set of linked sub-populations) is planned across the Kuno–Gandhi Sagar landscape [1].
• Funding and institutions: ₹39 crore for Phase 1 under the Project Tiger scheme, led by NTCA [1]. This extends the tiger-reserve model to grasslands.
• Climate value: Grasslands are presented as carbon sinks [1], which weakens the argument that only afforestation helps the climate.
• Community stake: More than 450 Cheetah Mitras and a 5% share of eco-tourism revenue give local people a reason to protect grasslands [1].

Safeguards for real correction

• Expand habitat, not just numbers: India now has 60 cheetahs [3], far above Kuno's capacity. The Gandhi Sagar Action Plan [4] and grassland restoration must keep pace.
• Transparency: An 11-member Steering Committee reviews the project [5]. It should publish its mortality findings to keep public trust.

Flagship programmes work when a charismatic species is used to protect an entire ecosystem. If Project Cheetah measures success in restored grassland and breeding adults, not only in headcount, it can turn policy's "wastelands" into valued landscapes, in line with SDG 15 and the CBD [1].