Climate:
varies from tropical to desert
Terrain:
high, rugged mountains; low coastal plains; high plateaus; desert
Elevation extremes: lowest point: Laguna Salada -10 m highest point: Volcan Pico de Orizaba 5,700 m
Natural resources: petroleum, silver, copper, gold, lead, zinc, natural gas, timber
Land use: arable land: 12.66% permanent crops: 1.28% other: 86.06% (2005)
Irrigated land:
63,200 sq km (2003)
Natural hazards:
tsunamis along the Pacific coast, volcanoes and destructive
earthquakes in the center and south, and hurricanes on the Pacific,
Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean coasts
Environment - current issues:
scarcity of hazardous waste disposal facilities; rural to urban
migration; natural fresh water resources scarce and polluted in
north, inaccessible and poor quality in center and extreme
southeast; raw sewage and industrial effluents polluting rivers in
urban areas; deforestation; widespread erosion; desertification;
deteriorating agricultural lands; serious air and water pollution in
the national capital and urban centers along US-Mexico border; land
subsidence in Valley of Mexico caused by groundwater depletion
note: the government considers the lack of clean water and
deforestation national security issues
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto
Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law
of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer
Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Geography - note:
strategic location on southern border of US; corn (maize), one of
the world's major grain crops, is thought to have originated in
Mexico