Content-Type: text/html
Geographic coordinates: 8 00 N, 5 00 W
Map references: Africa
Area:
total:
322,460 sq km
land:
318,000 sq km
water:
4,460 sq km
Area - comparative: slightly larger than [New Mexico]?
Land boundaries:
total:
3,110 km
border countries:
Burkina Faso 584 km, Ghana 668 km, Guinea 610 km, Liberia 716 km, Mali 532 km
Coastline: 515 km
Maritime claims:
continental shelf:
200 nm
exclusive economic zone:
200 nm
territorial sea:
12 nm
Climate: tropical along coast, semiarid in far north; three seasons - warm and dry (November to March), hot and dry (March to May), hot and wet (June to October)
Terrain: mostly flat to undulating plains; mountains in northwest
Elevation extremes:
lowest point:
[Gulf of Guinea]? 0 m
highest point:
[Mont Nimba]? 1,752 m
Natural resources: petroleum, diamonds?, manganese, [iron ore]?, cobalt, bauxite, copper, hydropower?
Land use:
arable land:
8%
permanent crops:
4%
permanent pastures:
41%
forests and woodland:
22%
other:
25% (1993 est.)
Irrigated land: 680 sq km (1993 est.)
Natural hazards: coast has heavy surf and no natural harbors; during the rainy season torrential flooding is possible
Environment - current issues: deforestation (most of the country's forests - once the largest in West Africa - have been cleared by the timber industry); water pollution from sewage and industrial and agricultural effluents
Environment - international agreements:
party to:
Biodiversity?, [Climate Change]?, Desertification, [Endangered Species]?, [Hazardous Wastes]?, [Law of the Sea]?, [Marine Dumping]?, [Nuclear Test Ban]?, [Ozone Layer Protection]?, [Ship Pollution]?, [Tropical Timber 83]?, [Tropical Timber 94]?, Wetlands?
signed, but not ratified:
none of the selected agreements