Mridhu Tandon is a consultant with Biodiversity Unlimited LLC, specializing in area-based conservation and environment and social safeguards. 

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She collaborates with the IUCN World Heritage Programme on both monitoring and evaluation initiatives. As an independent assessor for the World Heritage Outlook (2025), she evaluated the status, trends, threats, and management effectiveness of natural World Heritage properties across India and Indonesia. Additionally, as a desk reviewer, she evaluated the application of natural criteria under the World Heritage Convention for nominated properties in Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Zambia, the Philippines, and Mongolia.

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Previously, Mridhu worked as a corporate consultant with PwC India, collaborating with ecologists on biodiversity baseline and impact assessments for renewable energy projects across Southern India. She also executed Environmental and Social Due Diligences across sectors including renewable energy, linear infrastructure, and real estate, ensuring compliance with IFC Performance Standards, World Bank Environment, Health and Safety Guidelines, and ADB Safeguard Policy.

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Earlier in her earlier career, she conducted fieldwork across rural landscapes in the Western Himalayas, Central India, and Eastern India to evaluate the constitution and functioning of Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs)—local level institutions of conservation decision-making under India’s Biological Diversity Act. Through collaborations with state biodiversity boards and forest departments, she executed capacity-building workshops to equip these committees with the legal frameworks required to safeguard traditional knowledge against biopiracy risks. In a separate engagement, she worked with environmental lawyers to analyse more than 2,500 forest and wildlife clearance decisions, assessing the impacts of development interventions on protected areas and forested landscapes.  

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Her writing on biodiversity law and conservation policy has appeared in outlets including Sanctuary Asia, Mongabay India and The Wire. She remains an active member of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas, making research-based contributions to the Protected Planet and World Heritage Specialist Groups.