Geography Of Kiribati

Location	Oceania, group of 33 coral atolls in the Pacific Ocean, straddling the equator; the capital Tarawa is about one-half of the way from Hawaii to Australia; note - on 1 January 1995, Kiribati proclaimed that all of its territory lies in the same time zone as its Gilbert Islands group (GMT +12) even though the Phoenix Islands and the Line Islands under its jurisdiction lie on the other side of the International Date Line
Geographic coordinates	1 25 N, 173 00 E
Map references	oceania
Area	total: 811 sq km note: includes three island groups - Gilbert Islands, Line Islands, Phoenix Islands water: 0 sq km land: 811 sq km
Area comparative	four times the size of Washington, DC
Land boundaries	0 km
Coastline	1,143 km
Maritime claims	territorial sea: 12 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 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: 2.74% permanent crops: 50.68% other: 46.58% (2001)
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 changes in sea level
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, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Geography note	21 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

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This information was reproduced in part from the CIA World Fact book.

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