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Location:
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Oceania, group of 33 coral atolls in the Pacific Ocean, straddling the equator; the capital Tarawa is about one-half of the way from Hawaii to Australia; note - on 1 January 1995, Kiribati proclaimed that all of its territory lies in the same time zone as its Gilbert Islands group (GMT +12) even though the Phoenix Islands and the Line Islands under its jurisdiction lie on the other side of the International Date Line
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Geographic coordinates:
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1 25 N, 173 00 E
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Map references:
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oceania
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Area:
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total: 811 sq km
note: includes three island groups - Gilbert Islands, Line Islands, Phoenix Islands
water: 0 sq km
land: 811 sq km
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Area - comparative:
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four 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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1,143 km
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Maritime claims:
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territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
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Climate:
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tropical; marine, hot and humid, moderated by trade winds
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Terrain:
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mostly low-lying coral atolls surrounded by extensive reefs
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Elevation extremes:
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lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m
highest point: unnamed location on Banaba 81 m
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Natural resources:
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phosphate (production discontinued in 1979)
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Land use:
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arable land: 2.74%
permanent crops: 50.68%
other: 46.58% (2001)
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Irrigated land:
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NA sq km
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Natural hazards:
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typhoons can occur any time, but usually November to March; occasional tornadoes; low level of some of the islands make them very sensitive to changes in sea level
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Environment - current issues:
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heavy pollution in lagoon of south Tarawa atoll due to heavy migration mixed with traditional practices such as lagoon latrines and open-pit dumping; ground water at risk
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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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21 of the 33 islands are inhabited; Banaba (Ocean Island) in Kiribati is one of the three great phosphate rock islands in the Pacific Ocean - the others are Makatea in French Polynesia, and Nauru
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