Elevation extremes: lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m highest point: Mont Iboundji 1,575 m
Natural resources: petroleum, manganese, uranium, gold, timber, iron ore, hydropower
Land use: arable land: 1.26% permanent crops: 0.66% other: 98.08% (2001)
Irrigated land:
150 sq km (1998 est.)
Natural hazards:
NA
Environment - current issues:
deforestation; poaching
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered
Species, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection,
Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Geography - note:
a small population and oil and mineral reserves have helped Gabon
become one of Africa's wealthier countries; in general, these
circumstances have allowed the country to maintain and conserve its
pristine rain forest and rich biodiversity
People Gabon
Population:
1,355,246
note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the
effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower
life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower
population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of
population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July
2004 est.)