International disputes: three sections of the boundary with Ecuador are in dispute
Climate: varies from tropical in east to dry desert in west
Terrain: western coastal plain (costa), high and rugged Andes in
center (sierra), eastern lowland jungle of Amazon Basin (selva)
Natural resources: copper, silver, gold, petroleum, timber, fish, iron
ore, coal, phosphate, potash
Land use: arable land: 3% permanent crops: 0% meadows and pastures: 21% forest and woodland: 55% other: 21%
Irrigated land: 12,500 sq km (1989 est.)
Environment:
current issues: deforestation; overgrazing of the slopes of the costa
and sierra leading to soil erosion; desertification; air pollution in
Lima; pollution of rivers and coastal waters from municipal and mining
wastes
natural hazards: earthquakes, tsunamis, flooding, landslides, mild
volcanic activity
international agreements: party to - Antarctic-Environmental Protocol,
Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species,
Hazardous Wastes, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship
Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Wetlands, Whaling; signed, but not
ratified - Desertification, Tropical Timber 94
Note: shares control of Lago Titicaca, world's highest navigable lake,
with Bolivia
@Peru:People
Population: 24,087,372 (July 1995 est.)