Geographic coordinates: 0 32 S, 166 55 E
Map references: Oceania
Area:
total:
21 sq km
land:
21 sq km
water:
0 sq km
Area - comparative: about 0.1 times the size of Washington, DC
Land boundaries: 0 km
Coastline: 30 km
Maritime claims:
exclusive fishing zone:
200 nm
territorial sea:
12 nm
Climate: tropical; monsoonal; rainy season (November to February)
Terrain: sandy beach rises to fertile ring around raised coral reefs with phosphate plateau in center
Elevation extremes:
lowest point:
Pacific Ocean 0 m
highest point:
unnamed location along plateau rim 61 m
Natural resources: phosphates
Land use:
arable land:
0%
permanent crops:
0%
permanent pastures:
0%
forests and woodland:
0%
other:
100% (1993 est.)
Irrigated land: NA sq km
Natural hazards: periodic droughts
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 New Zealand consortium - has left the central 90% of Nauru a wasteland and threatens limited remaining land resources
Environment - international agreements:
party to:
Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping
signed, but not ratified:
none of the selected agreements
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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