Belarus

Belarus Geography

Location
Eastern Europe, east of Poland

Geographic coordinates
53 00 N, 28 00 E

Area
total: 207,600 sq km
land: 207,600 sq km
water: 0 sq km

Area - comparative
slightly smaller than Kansas

Land boundaries
total: 2,900 km
border countries: Latvia 141 km, Lithuania 502 km, Poland 407 km, Russia 959 km, Ukraine 891 km

Coastline
0 km (landlocked)

Maritime claims
none (landlocked)

Climate
cold winters, cool and moist summers; transitional between continental and maritime

Terrain
generally flat and contains much marshland

Elevation extremes
lowest point: Nyoman River 90 m
highest point: Dzyarzhynskaya Hara 346 m

Natural resources
forests, peat deposits, small quantities of oil and natural gas, granite, dolomitic limestone, marl, chalk, sand, gravel, clay

Land use
arable land: 29.55%
permanent crops: 0.6%
other: 69.85% (2001)

Irrigated land
1,150 sq km (1998 est.)

Natural hazards
NA

Environment - current issues
soil pollution from pesticide use; southern part of the country contaminated with fallout from 1986 nuclear reactor accident at Chornobyl' in northern Ukraine

Environment - international agreements
party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulfur 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

Geography - note
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



- Info Provided by the CIA World Factbook -