Authors: Rana, Divyashree; Samad, Imran;Rastogi, Sankarshan;

Flagship species conservation approach has the potential to enrich wetland conservation. Conserving the charismatic Fishing Cat (Prionailurus viverrinus) in India, supporting ~40% of its known range, can help protect wetlands. Here, using multiple information sources we outline a framework at districtlevel to safeguard fishing cats in India. Specifically, we a) estimated Conservation priority scores (using presence records, habitat suitability, and habitat connectivity) to identify ecologically important
habitats, b) estimated Conservation likelihood scores assessing the success potential of any conservation intervention, c) collated Conservation initiative information identifying ongoing efforts
for species and/or habitat conservation. We consecutively assessed the spatial congruence between (a), (b) and (c) to delineate species’ conservation areas and corresponding action goals (blueprint).
Although Fishing Cat records were found in 12 Indian states, only a small proportion of the state area was identified harbouring optimal habitat for the species. Most districts ranking high in Conservation priority scored low in Conservation likelihood. Districts with species presence (n=60) were delineated into four tiers of action landscapes while some districts lacking confirmed presence records (n=156) were classified as survey landscapes. We use our results to recommend conservation actions for
fishing cats in India and explore its potential in protecting neglected wetland ecosystems.