Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve

India is located in south Asia and covers an area of 3,287,590 sq km. It is bordered from the North by Pakistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Burma and Bangladesh and has a total of 14,103 km of land boundaries. There are also 7,000 km of coastline, and the nation is flanked by the Arabian Sea to the west and the Bay of Bengal to the East. The climate of India ranges from tropical monsoon in the south which to a more temperate climate in the North. The terrain also varies significantly, with upland plains (the Deccan Plateau) in Southern region, flat to rolling plains along the Ganges River, deserts in the West and the Himalayan Mountains in the North. About 40% of species in Indian flora are alien, of which 25% are invasive.1 The nation has a population of 1.15 billion spread over a land area of 3,287,590 sq km.

Since independence in 1947, India has been the world’s largest democracy (by population) and is presently one of the world’s fastest growing economies. Its free-market reforms of the early nineties have seen considerable success, fueled largely by India’s information technologies sector. This growth has led to the emergence of 400 million people out of relative poverty since the reforms and a middle-class that now numbers 200 million people.12 Despite these impressive gains in economic investment and output, India faces pressing problems such as significant overpopulation, environmental degradation, extensive poverty, and ethnic and religious strife. In addition, India’s economy remains largely reliant on agricultural. Its major trading partners are the United States, China, and the United Arab Emirates.

Overview of Biodiversity

India is one of the 17 “megadiverse” countries and is composed of a diversity of ecological habitats like forests, grasslands, wetlands, coastal and marine ecosystems, and desert ecosystems. Almost 70% of the country has been surveyed and around 45,000 plant species (including fungi and lower plants) and 89,492 animal species have been described, including 59,353 insect species, 2,546 fish species, 240 amphibian species, 460 reptile species, 1,232 bird species and 397 mammal species.