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Location: Oceania, group of islands in the Pacific Ocean,
straddling the equator, about one-half of the way from Hawaii to
Australia; note - on 1 January 1995, Kiribati unilaterally moved
the International Date Line from the middle of the country to include
its easternmost islands and make it the same day throughout the
country
Geographic coordinates: 1 25 N, 173 00 E
Map references: Oceania
Area:
total: 717 sq km
land: 717 sq km
water: 0 sq km
note: includes three island groups - Gilbert Islands, Line
Islands, Phoenix Islands
Area - comparative: four times the size of Washington, DC
Land boundaries: 0 km
Coastline: 1,143 km
Maritime claims:
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 12 nm
Climate: tropical; marine, hot and humid, moderated by trade
winds
Terrain: mostly low-lying coral atolls surrounded by extensive
reefs
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m
highest point: unnamed location on Banaba 81 m
Natural resources: phosphate (production discontinued in
1979)
Land use:
arable land: 0%
permanent crops: 51%
permanent pastures: 0%
forests and woodland: 3%
other: 46% (1993 est.)
Irrigated land: NA sq km
Natural hazards: typhoons can occur any time, but usually
November to March; occasional tornadoes; low-level of some of the
islands make them very sensitive to sea-level rise
Environment - current issues: heavy pollution in lagoon
of south Tarawa atoll due to heavy migration mixed with traditional
practices such as lagoon latrines and open-pit dumping; ground water
at risk
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification,
Endangered Species, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Geography - note: 20 of the 33 islands are inhabited; Banaba
(Ocean Island) in Kiribati is one of the three great phosphate rock
islands in the Pacific Ocean - the others are Makatea in French
Polynesia, and Nauru
Background: The Gilbert Islands were granted self-rule by
the UK in 1971 and complete independence in 1979 under the new name
of Kiribati. The US relinquished all claims to the sparsely inhabited
Phoenix and Line Island groups in a 1979 treaty of friendship with
Kiribati.
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