LocationOceania, group of islands including the eastern half of the island of New Guinea between the Coral Sea and the South Pacific Ocean, east of Indonesia Geographic coordinates6 00 S, 147 00 E Map referencesOceania Areatotal: 462,840 sq km Area - comparativeslightly larger than California Land boundariestotal: 820 km Coastline5,152 km Maritime claimsmeasured from claimed archipelagic baselines Climatetropical; northwest monsoon (December to March), southeast monsoon (May to October); slight seasonal temperature variation Terrainmostly mountains with coastal lowlands and rolling foothills Elevation extremeslowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m Natural resourcesgold, copper, silver, natural gas, timber, oil, fisheries Land usearable land: 0.49% Irrigated landNA Total renewable water resources801 cu km (1987) Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural)total: 0.1 cu km/yr (56%/43%/1%) Natural hazardsactive volcanism; situated along the Pacific "Ring of Fire"; the country is subject to frequent and sometimes severe earthquakes; mud slides; tsunamis Environment - current issuesrain forest subject to deforestation as a result of growing commercial demand for tropical timber; pollution from mining projects; severe drought Environment - international agreementsparty to: Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands Geography - noteshares island of New Guinea with Indonesia; one of world's largest swamps along southwest coast |
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Source: CIA World Factbook | |