GEOGRAPHY
Location: Southern Europe, a peninsula extending into the central
Mediterranean Sea, northeast of Tunisia
Map
references: Europe
Area:
total area: 301,230 sq km
land area: 294,020 sq km
comparative area: slightly larger than Arizona
note: includes Sardinia and Sicily
Land
boundaries: total 1,899.2 km, Austria 430 km, France 488
km, Holy See (Vatican City) 3.2 km, San Marino 39 km, Slovenia
199 km, Switzerland 740 km
Coastline: 4,996 km
Maritime claims:
continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation
territorial sea: 12 nm
International
disputes: none
Climate: predominantly Mediterranean; Alpine in far north; hot,
dry in south
Terrain: mostly rugged and mountainous; some plains, coastal
lowlands
Natural
resources: mercury, potash, marble, sulfur, dwindling
natural gas and crude oil reserves, fish, coal
Land use:
arable land: 32%
permanent crops: 10%
meadows and pastures: 17%
forest and woodland: 22%
other: 19%
Irrigated
land: 31,000 sq km (1989 est.)
Environment:
current issues: air pollution from industrial emissions such
as sulfur dioxide; coastal and inland rivers polluted from
industrial and agricultural effluents; acid rain damaging lakes;
inadequate industrial waste treatment and disposal facilities
natural hazards: regional risks include landslides, mudflows,
avalanches, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, flooding; land subsidence
in Venice
international agreements: party to - Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen
Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity,
Climate Change, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification,
Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test
Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber
83, Wetlands; signed, but not ratified - Air Pollution-Sulphur
94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental
Protocol, Desertification
Note: strategic location dominating central Mediterranean as
well as southern sea and air approaches to Western Europe
