Elevation extremes: lowest point: Philippine Sea 0 m highest point:
Mount Apo 2,954 m
Natural resources: timber, petroleum, nickel, cobalt, silver, gold, salt, copper
Land use: arable land: 18% permanent crops: 15% other: 67% (1998 est.)
Irrigated land: 15,500 sq km (1998 est.)
Natural hazards: astride typhoon belt, usually affected by 15 and struck by five to six cyclonic storms per year; landslides; active volcanoes; destructive earthquakes; tsunamis
Environment - current issues: uncontrolled deforestation in watershed areas; soil erosion; air and water pollution in Manila; increasing pollution of coastal mangrove swamps which are important fish breeding grounds
Environment - international agreements: party to: Biodiversity,
Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes,
Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection,
Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands signed,
but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol
Geography - note: favorably located in relation to many of Southeast
Asia's main water bodies: the South China Sea, Philippine Sea, Sulu Sea,
Celebes Sea, and Luzon Strait
People Philippines
Population: 84,525,639 (July 2002 est.)