| Geography | Nauru |
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Location:
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Oceania, island in the South Pacific Ocean, south of the Marshall Islands |
Geographic coordinates:
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0 32 S, 166 55 E |
Map references:
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Oceania |
Area:
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total: 21 sq km
land: 21 sq km
water: 0 sq km |
Area - comparative:
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about 0.1 times the size of Washington, DC |
Land boundaries:
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0 km |
Coastline:
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30 km |
Maritime claims:
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territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm |
Climate:
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tropical with a monsoonal pattern; rainy season (November to February) |
Terrain:
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sandy beach rises to fertile ring around raised coral reefs with phosphate plateau in center |
Elevation extremes:
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lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m
highest point: unnamed location along plateau rim 61 m |
Natural resources:
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phosphates, fish |
Land use:
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arable land: 0%
permanent crops: 0%
other: 100% (2005) |
Irrigated land:
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NA |
Total renewable water resources:
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void |
Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural):
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void |
Natural hazards:
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periodic droughts |
Environment - current issues:
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limited natural fresh water resources, roof storage tanks collect rainwater, but mostly dependent on a single, aging desalination plant; intensive phosphate mining during the past 90 years - mainly by a UK, Australia, and NZ consortium - has left the central 90% of Nauru a wasteland and threatens limited remaining land resources |
Environment - international agreements:
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party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
Geography - note:
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Nauru is one of the three great phosphate rock islands in the Pacific Ocean - the others are Banaba (Ocean Island) in Kiribati and Makatea in French Polynesia; only 53 km south of Equator |
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