In September 2022, nearly 70 years after it went extinct locally, the cheetah returned to roam the forests of India. Flown in from Namibia, its arrival was hailed as a landmark in wildlife conservation but also attracted controversy. Achieving this milestone required navigating resistance from local communities, judicial scrutiny, painstaking international negotiations, pushback from sections of the conservation community and a public outcry over the death of a few translocated cheetahs. Much of this unfolded in the midst of the pandemic, complicating an already tough mission. Overcoming all odds, the project is now regarded as a global template for the reintroduction of lost species. We are excited to host Prashant Agrawal, India’s High Commissioner to Namibia during the critical translocation phase, who will take us behind the headlines, offering a ringside view of this historical project. Drawing on his new book, Bringing the Cheetah Back to India: How Diplomacy Made Conservation’s Big Mission Possible (available on Amazon and at leading bookstores) he will discuss what it took to deliver such a big mandate under intense public scrutiny, and why he views the cheetah’s return as a watershed moment for India’s conservation movement.