Geography of Lebanon
Location: | Middle East, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Israel and Syria |
Geographic coordinates: | 33 50 N, 35 50 E |
Map references: | Middle East |
Area: | total: 10,400 sq km land: 10,230 sq km water: 170 sq km |
Area - comparative: | about 0.7 times the size of Connecticut |
Land boundaries: | total: 454 km border countries: Israel 79 km, Syria 375 km |
Coastline: | 225 km |
Maritime claims: | territorial sea: 12 nm |
Climate: | Mediterranean; mild to cool, wet winters with hot, dry summers; Lebanon mountains experience heavy winter snows |
Terrain: | narrow coastal plain; El Beqaa (Bekaa Valley) separates Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon Mountains |
Elevation extremes: | lowest point: Mediterranean Sea 0 m highest point: Qurnat as Sawda' 3,088 m |
Natural resources: | limestone, iron ore, salt, water-surplus state in a water-deficit region, arable land |
Land use: | arable land: 16.35% permanent crops: 13.75% other: 69.9% (2005) |
Irrigated land: | 1,040 sq km (2003) |
Natural hazards: | dust storms, sandstorms |
Environment - current issues: | deforestation; soil erosion; desertification; air pollution in Beirut from vehicular traffic and the burning of industrial wastes; pollution of coastal waters from raw sewage and oil spills |
Environment - international agreements: | party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: Environmental Modification, Marine Life Conservation |
Geography - note: | Nahr el Litani is the only major river in Near East not crossing an international boundary; rugged terrain historically helped isolate, protect, and develop numerous factional groups based on religion, clan, and ethnicity |