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Location:
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Oceania, island in the South Pacific Ocean, south of the Marshall Islands
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Geographic coordinates:
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0 32 S, 166 55 E
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Map references:
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Oceania
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Area:
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total: 21 sq km
water: 0 sq km
land: 21 sq km
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Area - comparative:
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about 0.1 times the size of Washington, DC
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Land boundaries:
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0 km
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Coastline:
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30 km
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Maritime claims:
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contiguous zone: 24 NM
territorial sea: 12 NM
exclusive economic zone: 200 NM
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Climate:
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tropical; monsoonal; rainy season (November to February)
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Terrain:
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sandy beach rises to fertile ring around raised coral reefs with phosphate plateau in center
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Elevation extremes:
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lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m
highest point: unnamed location along plateau rim 61 m
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Natural resources:
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phosphates, fish
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Land use:
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arable land: 0%
permanent crops: 0%
other: 100% (1998 est.)
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Irrigated land:
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NA sq km
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Natural hazards:
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periodic droughts
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Environment - current issues:
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limited natural fresh water resources, roof storage tanks collect rainwater, but mostly dependent on a single, aging desalination plant; intensive phosphate mining during the past 90 years - mainly by a UK, Australia, and NZ consortium - has left the central 90% of Nauru a wasteland and threatens limited remaining land resources
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Environment - international agreements:
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party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
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Geography - note:
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Nauru is one of the three great phosphate rock islands in the Pacific Ocean - the others are Banaba (Ocean Island) in Kiribati and Makatea in French Polynesia; only 53 km south of Equator
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