International disputes: territorial claim in Antarctica (Queen Maud
Land); maritime boundary dispute with Russia over portion of Barents
Sea
Climate: temperate along coast, modified by North Atlantic Current;
colder interior; rainy year-round on west coast
Terrain: glaciated; mostly high plateaus and rugged mountains broken by fertile valleys; small, scattered plains; coastline deeply indented by fjords; arctic tundra in north
Natural resources: petroleum, copper, natural gas, pyrites, nickel, iron ore, zinc, lead, fish, timber, hydropower
Land use: arable land: 3% permanent crops: 0% meadows and pastures: 0% forest and woodland: 27% other: 70%
Irrigated land: 950 sq km (1989)
Environment:
current issues: water pollution; acid rain damaging forests and
adversely affecting lakes, threatening fish stocks; air pollution from
vehicle emissions
natural hazards: NA
international agreements: party to - Air Pollution, Air
Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air
Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental
Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered
Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping,
Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical
Timber 83, Wetlands, Whaling; signed, but not ratified - Air
Pollution-Sulphur 94, Desertification, Law of the Sea, Tropical Timber
94
Note: about two-thirds mountains; some 50,000 islands off its much indented coastline; strategic location adjacent to sea lanes and air routes in North Atlantic; one of most rugged and longest coastlines in world; Norway and Turkey only NATO members having a land boundary with Russia
@Norway:People
Population: 4,330,951 (July 1995 est.)