ENVIS Centre, Ministry of Environment & Forest, Govt. of India

Background Of Important Bird And Biodiversity Areas In India

India is situated between latitudes 8° 4’ and 37° N, and longitudes 68° 7’ and 97° 25’ E, and is bounded on the southwest by the Arabian Sea and on the southeast by the Bay of Bengal. To the north and northeast lies the mighty Himalayan range. To the west lies Pakistan and to the east, Bangladesh and Myanmar. In the north, Tibet, China, Nepal, and Bhutan share international boundaries with India. To the south Sri Lanka shares the maritime boundary and is separated from India by a narrow channel of the Bay of Bengal formed by the Palk Strait and the Gulf of Mannar(Mathew 2003).

India is one of the largest countries of the world and covers an area of about 3,287,263 sq. km. It extends 3,214 km from north to south and 2,933 km from east to west, with a land frontier of 15,200 km and a 7,516 km coastline. Mountain ranges such as the Himalaya in the north,the Aravallis in the west, the central highlands of the Vindhya and Satpura ranges and the Eastern and Western Ghats in the eastern and western parts of the peninsula , comprise several submontane tracts of varied lengths and heights that support diverse flora and fauna.

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