Elevation extremes: lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m highest point: unnamed location on Banaba 81 m
Natural resources: phosphate (production discontinued in 1979)
Land use: arable land: 2.74% permanent crops: 50.68% other: 46.58% (2001)
Irrigated land:
NA sq km
Natural hazards:
typhoons can occur any time, but usually November to March;
occasional tornadoes; low level of some of the islands make them
very sensitive to changes in sea level
Environment - current issues:
heavy pollution in lagoon of south Tarawa atoll due to heavy
migration mixed with traditional practices such as lagoon latrines
and open-pit dumping; ground water at risk
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto
Protocol, Desertification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine
Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Geography - note:
21 of the 33 islands are inhabited; Banaba (Ocean Island) in
Kiribati is one of the three great phosphate rock islands in the
Pacific Ocean - the others are Makatea in French Polynesia, and Nauru
People Kiribati
Population:
100,798 (July 2004 est.)