Terrain: mostly rugged and mountainous; some plains, coastal
lowlands
Elevation extremes: lowest point: Mediterranean Sea 0 m highest point: Mont Blanc (Monte Bianco) 4,807 m
Natural resources: mercury, potash, marble, sulfur, dwindling
natural gas and crude oil reserves, fish, coal
Land use:
arable land: 31%
permanent crops: 10%
permanent pastures: 15%
forests and woodland: 23%
other: 21% (1993 est.)
Irrigated land: 27,100 sq km (1993 est.)
Natural hazards: regional risks include landslides, mudflows, avalanches, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, flooding; land subsidence in Venice
Environment—current issues: air pollution from industrial emissions such as sulfur dioxide; coastal and inland rivers polluted from industrial and agricultural effluents; acid rain damaging lakes; inadequate industrial waste treatment and disposal facilities
Environment—international agreements:
party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air
Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air
Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental
Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change,
Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification,
Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban,
Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical
Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic
Pollutants, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol
Geography—note: strategic location dominating central
Mediterranean as well as southern sea and air approaches to Western
Europe
People