Geography of Suriname
Location: | Northern South America, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between French Guiana and Guyana |
Geographic coordinates: | 4 00 N, 56 00 W |
Map references: | South America |
Area: | total: 163,270 sq km land: 161,470 sq km water: 1,800 sq km |
Area - comparative: | slightly larger than Georgia |
Land boundaries: | total: 1,703 km border countries: Brazil 593 km, French Guiana 510 km, Guyana 600 km |
Coastline: | 386 km |
Maritime claims: | territorial sea: 12 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm |
Climate: | tropical; moderated by trade winds |
Terrain: | mostly rolling hills; narrow coastal plain with swamps |
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 |