Mongabay series: India's Iconic Landscapes

Stretching from tropical to temperate latitudes, with a 7,500 km long coastline, two archipelagos, some of the tallest mountains and the most extensive mangrove ecosystem in the world, iconic India harbours biodiversity hotspots of global importance. From these landscapes, we will bring you stories of people, animals, plants and their habitats. This series on the country's iconic landscapes spans the well known Himalayas and the Ganga river basins but also tells the stories of fascinating efforts of conservation in small pockets of the Sundarbans, the Western Ghats, the coastline and even the urban centres of the vast and varied country. As an emerging economy, the growth story of iconic India has had varying impact on the country’s habitats, natural resources, biological diversity and forest-dwelling communities. We highlight stories of neglect and destruction to some of the country's most important landscapes and through a mix of perspectives we bring to the fore the need for protecting them and growing through sustainable development.