Elevation extremes: lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m highest point: unnamed location along plateau rim 61 m
Natural resources: phosphates
Land use:
arable land: NA%
permanent crops: NA%
permanent pastures: NA%
forests and woodland: NA%
other: 100% (1993 est.)
Irrigated land: NA sq km
Natural hazards: periodic droughts
Environment—current issues: limited natural fresh water resources, roof storage tanks collect rainwater; intensive phosphate mining during the past 90 years—mainly by a UK, Australia, and New Zealand consortium—has left the central 90% of Nauru a wasteland and threatens limited remaining land resources
Environment—international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Law of the
Sea, Marine Dumping
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Geography—note: Nauru is one of the three great phosphate rock
islands in the Pacific Ocean—the others are Banaba (Ocean Island) in
Kiribati and Makatea in French Polynesia; only 53 km south of Equator
People
Population: 10,605 (July 1999 est.)