South Asia is bordered in the south by the Indian Ocean, in the Southeast by Bay of Bengal and in the South-west

by the Arabian Sea. Occupying a major portion of the Indo-Malayan realm and a smaller portion of the Palaearctic realm, this region is representative of five of the fourteen major ecological regions called biomes, which demonstrate the biodiversity and vegetation patterns of the region as determined by climate, water, geology, soil and diverse topography. South Asia's topography consists of an amazing variety of mountains, plateaus, dry regions, intervening structural basins, beaches, etc. It varies from world highest point, the Mount Everest to the world lowest, the sea beach. A monsoon climate, characterised by wet summers and dry winters, generally prevails over South Asia. The south-west monsoons (late May to October) bring the maximum rainfall, followed by the north-east monsoons. Precipitation and climate vary significantly from place to place in different countries within the region due to the variations in land forms. Rainfall ranges from 200 mm in the desert areas of the north-west to 4000 mm in the higher Himalayas of Bhutan. The climate also varies from the semi-arid in Pakistan to the tropical monsoon and hot-dry, humid-dry in the rest of the region. The region's temperature varies ranging from as law as -20 C in the cold desert to a scorching 48 C desert areas in some plains. Some of the world's largest river systems are in the South Asia. The Indus river originates in China and flows to Pakistan. The GangaBrahmaputtra river systems originate partly in China, Nepal and Bhutan, and flow to India and Bangladesh. The Indus river is one of the world's greatest, measuring 2,800 km from its source to sea. The Ganga stretches to about 2,525 km, and the brahmaputtra, the third great Himalayan river, stretches about 2, 900 km flowing through Tibet, India and Bangladesh. There are many other minor rivers originate from

great Himalayan drain into Bangladesh through Nepal and India. There are 103 rivers draining in a radial pattern from central highland of Sri Lanka. The Ganga, Brahmaputtra and Meghna are the major rivers in Bangladesh. The rivers in Bhutan are the Jadalkha, Torsa, Raidak, Sankosh, Mao Khola/Aie, and the Manas. Maldives does not have any rivers. The diversity in the latitude, altitude, climate and topography has resulted in a variety of vegetation in the region, ranging from the temperate and the tropical to the desert vegetation. About 18.6 percent of the total land area of the region still under the forest cover and it account for 2.73 percent of the total forest area in the world. About 5 percent of the region's land area is being under protection. South Asia houses approximately 15.5 and 12 percent of the world's flora and fauna respectively. The faunal diversity of the region comprises of 933 species of mammals, 4,494 birds, 923 reptiles, 332 amphibians and 342 freshwater fishes. The floral diversity accounts for 39,875 species of flowering plants, 66 conifers and cycads, 764 ferns and 6,652 higher plants. Population and Development Trend South Asia Human Development Trend Life expectance at birth (years) 2005 Adult literacy rate ( % age 15 and above, 2005) GDP per capita (PPP US$ 2005) Human development index ( HDI) value 2005 Demographic Trends 63.8 59.5 3,416 0.611 68.1 78.6 9,543 0.743 World

Total population (millions) 2005 Annual population growth rate 2005 - 15 Urban population (% of total) 2005 Population under age 15 (% of total) 2005 Population age 65 and above (% of total) 2005 Total fertility rate (births per women) 2000 - 05 Water Sanitation and Nutritional Status Population using improved sanitation (%) 1990 Population using improved sanitation (%) 2004 Population under nourished ( % of total population) 1990/92 Population under nourished (% of total population) 2000/2004 Population using an improved water source (%) 1990 Population using an improved water source (%) 2004 Energy and the Environment Electricity consumption per capita (kilowatthours, 2004) Electricity consumption per capita (% change) 1990 - 2004 Electrification rate (%) 2000 - 2005 Population without electricity (millions) 2005 Forest area (% of total land area) 2005

1,587.4T 6,514.8T 1.5 30.2 33.6 4.7 3.2 18 37 25 21 72 85 1.1 48.6 28.3 7.3 2.6 49 59 20 17 78 83

628 14.2

2,701 76 1,577.0 30.3

Total forest area (thousand sq km) 2005 Forest area - total change (thousand sq km) 1990 - 2005 Forest area - average annual change (%) 1990 2005 Carbon Dioxide Emissions and Stocks Total carbon dioxide emissions (Mt CO2) 1990 Total carbon dioxide emissions (Mt CO2) 2004 Annual change of carbon dioxide emissions (%) 1990 - 2004 Carbon dioxide emissions - share of world total (%) 1990 Carbon dioxide emissions - share of world total (%) 2004 Carbon dioxide emissions per capita (t CO2) 1990 Carbon dioxide emissions per capita (t CO2) 2004 Carbon dioxide emissions from forest biomass (Mt CO2/year) 1990 - 2005 Carbon stocks in forest biomass (Mt carbon)
http://www.sacep.org/html/regional_abtsa.htm http://mama.indstate.edu/users/gejdg/sasia.pdf

911.8 12.5 0.1

39,520.3 -1,252.7 -0.2

990.7T

22,702.5T

1,954.6T 28,982.7T 7.0 4.4 6.7 0.8 1.3 -49.3 2.0 100.0 100.0 4.3 4.5 4,038.1

3,843.5 282,650.1

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http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/232512/Ghats http://nethelper.com/article/Indian_subcontinent

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Thar_Desert#Geography http://www.answers.com/topic/western-ghats#Geology http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/438019/Padma-River