|
NepalGEOGRAPHY
Location and Size: Landlocked between China and
India;
total land area 147,181 square kilometers.
Topography: Mountainous and hilly, although with
physical
diversity. Three broad physiographic areas run
laterally--lowland
Tarai Region in south; central lower mountains and hills
constituting Hill Region; high Himalayas, with
8,796-meters-high
Mount Everest and other peaks forming Mountain Region in
north. Of
total land area, only 20 percent cultivatable.
Deforestation severe
problem; by 1988 forests covered approximately 30 percent
of land
area.
Climate: Five climatic zones based on altitude
range from
subtropical in south, to cool summers and severe winters
in north.
Annual rainfall with seasonal variations depending on
monsoon
cycle, which provides 60 to 80 percent of total annual
rainfall;
2,500 millimeters in eastern part of country; 1,420
millimeters
around Kathmandu; 1,000 millimeters in western Nepal.
Data as of September 1991
|
