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Location: Southern Europe, a peninsula extending into the central Mediterranean Sea, northeast of Tunisia
Geographic coordinates: 42 50 N, 12 50 E
Area:
total:
301,230 sq km
land:
294,020 sq km
water:
7,210 sq km
note:
includes Sardinia and Sicily
Land
boundaries:
total:
1,932.2 km
border
countries: Austria 430 km, France 488 km, Holy See (Vatican City) 3.2 km,
San Marino 39 km, Slovenia 232 km, Switzerland 740 km
Coastline: 7,600 km
Maritime
claims:
continental
shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation
territorial
sea: 12 nm
Climate: predominantly Mediterranean; Alpine in far north; hot, dry in south
Terrain: mostly rugged and mountainous; some plains, coastal lowlands
Elevation
extremes:
lowest
point: Mediterranean Sea 0 m
highest
point: Mont Blanc (Monte Bianco) 4,807 m
Natural resources: mercury, potash, marble, sulfur, dwindling natural gas and crude oil reserves, fish, coal
Land
use:
arable
land: 31%
permanent
crops: 10%
permanent
pastures: 15%
forests
and woodland: 23%
other:
21% (1993 est.)
Irrigated land: 27,100 sq km (1993 est.)
Natural hazards: regional risks include landslides, mudflows, avalanches, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, flooding; land subsidence in Venice
Environment—current issues: air pollution from industrial emissions such as sulfur dioxide; coastal and inland rivers polluted from industrial and agricultural effluents; acid rain damaging lakes; inadequate industrial waste treatment and disposal facilities
Environment—international
agreements:
party
to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur
85, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds,
Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate
Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification,
Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone
Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94,
Wetlands, Whaling
signed,
but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Climate
Change-Kyoto Protocol
Geography—note: strategic location dominating central Mediterranean as well as southern sea and air approaches to Western Europe
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Última actualització: 8 de juny de 2000