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| Location: |
Oceania, island in the South Pacific Ocean, south of the Marshall Islands
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| Geographic coordinates: |
0 32 S, 166 55 E
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| Area: |
total:
21 sq km
land:
21 sq km
water:
0 sq km
|
| Area - comparative: |
about 0.1 times the size of Washington, DC
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| Maritime claims: |
contiguous zone:
24 NM
exclusive economic zone:
200 NM
territorial sea:
12 NM
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| Climate: |
tropical; monsoonal; rainy season (November to February)
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| Terrain: |
sandy beach rises to fertile ring around raised coral reefs with phosphate plateau in center
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| Elevation extremes: |
lowest point:
Pacific Ocean 0 m
highest point:
unnamed location along plateau rim 61 m
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| Natural resources: |
phosphates
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| Land use: |
arable land:
0%
permanent crops:
0%
permanent pastures:
0%
forests and woodland:
0%
other:
100% (1993 est.)
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| Natural hazards: |
periodic droughts
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| Environment - current issues: |
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
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| Environment - international agreements: |
party to:
Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping
signed, but not ratified:
none of the selected agreements
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| Geography - note: |
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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