Elevation extremes:
lowest point: unnamed location in the coastal plain -2 m
highest point: Juliana Top 1,230 m
Natural resources:
timber, hydropower, fish, kaolin, shrimp, bauxite, gold, and small
amounts of nickel, copper, platinum, iron ore
Land use: arable land: 0.36% permanent crops: 0.06% other: 99.58% (2005)
Irrigated land:
510 sq km (2003)
Natural hazards:
NA
Environment - current issues: deforestation as timber is cut for export; pollution of inland waterways by small-scale mining activities
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered
Species, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection,
Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Geography - note:
smallest independent country on South American continent; mostly
tropical rain forest; great diversity of flora and fauna that, for
the most part, is increasingly threatened by new development;
relatively small population, mostly along the coast
People Suriname
Population:
439,117 (July 2006 est.)