GEOGRAPHY
Location:
Central Africa, northeast of Angola
Geographic coordinates:
0 00 N, 25 00 E
Map references: Africa
Area:
total: 2,345,410 sq km
land: 2,267,600 sq km
water: 77,810 sq km
Area—comparative: slightly
less than one-fourth the size of the US
Land boundaries:
total: 10,271 km
border countries: Angola 2,511 km, Burundi 233 km, Central
African Republic 1,577 km, Republic of the Congo 2,410 km, Rwanda
217 km, Sudan 628 km, Uganda 765 km, Zambia 1,930 km
Coastline: 37 km
Maritime claims:
exclusive economic zone: boundaries with neighbors
territorial sea: 12 nm
Climate: tropical; hot and
humid in equatorial river basin; cooler and drier in southern
highlands; cooler and wetter in eastern highlands; north of Equator—wet
season April to October, dry season December to February; south
of Equator—wet season November to March, dry season April
to October
Terrain: vast central basin
is a low-lying plateau; mountains in east
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: Pic Marguerite on Mont Ngaliema (Mount
Stanley) 5,110 m
Natural resources: cobalt,
copper, cadmium, petroleum, industrial and gem diamonds, gold,
silver, zinc, manganese, tin, germanium, uranium, radium, bauxite,
iron ore, coal, hydropower potential, timber
Land use:
arable land: 3%
permanent crops: 0%
permanent pastures: 7%
forests and woodland: 77%
other: 13% (1993 est.)
Irrigated land: 100 sq km
(1993 est.)
Natural hazards: periodic
droughts in south; volcanic activity
Environment—current issues:
poaching threatens wildlife populations; water pollution; deforestation;
refugees who arrived in mid-1994 were responsible for significant
deforestation, soil erosion, and wildlife poaching in the eastern
part of the country (most of those refugees were repatriated in
November and December 1996)
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, Tropical Timber 83,
Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Environmental Modification
Geography—note: straddles
Equator; very narrow strip of land that controls the lower Congo
river and is only outlet to South Atlantic Ocean; dense tropical
rain forest in central river basin and eastern highlands
