International disputes: certain territory of Moldova and Ukraine - including Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina - are considered by Bucharest as historically a part of Romania; this territory was incorporated into the former Soviet Union following the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in 1940
Climate: moderate winters, warm summers
Terrain: rolling steppe, gradual slope south to Black Sea
Natural resources: lignite, phosphorites, gypsum
Land use: arable land: 50% permanent crops: 13% meadows and pastures: 9% forest and woodland: 0% other: 28%
Irrigated land: 2,920 sq km (1990)
Environment:
current issues: heavy use of agricultural chemicals, including banned
pesticides such as DDT, has contaminated soil and groundwater;
extensive soil erosion from poor farming methods
natural hazards: NA
international agreements: signed, but not ratified - Biodiversity,
Climate Change
Note: landlocked
@Moldova:People
Population: 4,489,657 (July 1995 est.)