Coastline: 37 km
Maritime claims: exclusive economic zone: boundaries with neighbors territorial sea: 12 nm
International disputes: Tanzania-Zaire-Zambia tripoint in Lake Tanganyika may no longer be indefinite since it is reported that the indefinite section of the Zaire-Zambia boundary has been settled; long section with Congo along the Congo River is indefinite (no division of the river or its islands has been made)
Climate: tropical; hot and humid in equatorial river basin; cooler and drier in southern highlands; cooler and wetter in eastern highlands; north of Equator - wet season April to October, dry season December to February; south of Equator - wet season November to March, dry season April to October
Terrain: vast central basin is a low-lying plateau; mountains in east
Natural resources: cobalt, copper, cadmium, petroleum, industrial and gem diamonds, gold, silver, zinc, manganese, tin, germanium, uranium, radium, bauxite, iron ore, coal, hydropower potential
Land use: arable land: 3% permanent crops: 0% meadows and pastures: 4% forest and woodland: 78% other: 15%
Irrigated land: 100 sq km (1989 est.)
Environment:
current issues: poaching threatens wildlife populations; water
pollution; deforestation; 1.2 million Rwandan refugees are responsible
for significant deforestation, soil erosion, and wildlife poaching in
eastern Zaire
natural hazards: periodic droughts in south; volcanic activity
international agreements: party to - Biodiversity, Climate Change,
Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping,
Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Tropical Timber 83; signed,
but not ratified - Desertification, Environmental Modification
Note: straddles Equator; very narrow strip of land that controls the lower Congo River and is only outlet to South Atlantic Ocean; dense tropical rain forest in central river basin and eastern highlands