Cote d'Ivoire Geography:
Location:
Western Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between Ghana and Liberia
Geographic coordinates:
8 00 N, 5 00 W
Map references:
Area:
total:
322,460 sq km
land:
318,000 sq km
water:
4,460 sq km
Area - comparative:
Slightly larger than New Mexico
Land boundaries:
total: 3,110 km
border countries: Burkina Faso 584 km, Ghana 668 km, Guinea 610 km, Liberia 716 km, Mali 532 km
Coastline:
515 km
Maritime claims:
continental shelf: 200 NM
territorial sea: 12 NM
exclusive economic zone: 200 NM
Climate:
Tropical along coast, semiarid in far north; three seasons - warm and dry (November to March), hot and dry (March to May), hot and wet (June to October)
Terrain:
Mostly flat to undulating plains; mountains in northwest
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Gulf of Guinea 0 m
highest point: Mont Nimba 1,752 m
Natural resources:
Petroleum, natural gas, diamonds, manganese, iron ore, cobalt, bauxite, copper, gold, nickel, tantalum, silica sand, clay, cocoa beans, coffee, palm oil, hydropower
Land use:
arable land: 9.75%
permanent crops: 13.84%
other: 76.41%
(2001)
Irrigated land:
730 sq km (1998 est.)
Natural hazards:
Coast has heavy surf and no natural harbors; during the rainy season torrential flooding is possible
Environment - current issues:
Deforestation (most of the country's forests - once the largest in West Africa - have been heavily logged); water pollution from sewage and industrial and agricultural effluents
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements(not ratified)
Geography - Note:
Most of the inhabitants live along the sandy coastal region; apart from the capital area, the forested interior is sparsely populated |
