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Belarus: Geography
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Location:
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Eastern Europe, east of Poland
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Geographic coordinates:
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53 00 N, 28 00 E
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Map references:
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Europe
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Area:
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total: 207,600 sq km
water: 0 sq km
land: 207,600 sq km
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Area - comparative:
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slightly smaller than Kansas
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Land boundaries:
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total: 2,900 km
border countries: Latvia 141 km, Lithuania 502 km, Poland 407 km, Russia 959 km, Ukraine 891 km
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Coastline:
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0 km (landlocked)
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Maritime claims:
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none (landlocked)
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Climate:
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cold winters, cool and moist summers; transitional between continental and maritime
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Terrain:
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generally flat and contains much marshland
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Elevation extremes:
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lowest point: Nyoman River 90 m
highest point: Dzyarzhynskaya Hara 346 m
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Natural resources:
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forests, peat deposits, small quantities of oil and natural gas, granite, dolomitic limestone, marl, chalk, sand, gravel, clay
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Land use:
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arable land: 29.76%
permanent crops: 0.69%
other: 69.55% (1998 est.)
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Irrigated land:
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1,150 sq km (1998 est.)
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Natural hazards:
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NA
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Environment - current issues:
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soil pollution from pesticide use; southern part of the country contaminated with fallout from 1986 nuclear reactor accident at Chornobyl' in northern Ukraine
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Environment - international agreements:
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party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Law of the Sea
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Geography - note:
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landlocked; glacial scouring accounts for the flatness of Belarusian terrain and for its 11,000 lakes; the country is geologically well endowed with extensive deposits of granite, dolomitic limestone, marl, chalk, sand, gravel, and clay
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