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Contents

Location

Area

Land boundaries:

Maritime claims

Climate and Terrain

Climate

Terrain

Elevation extremes

Natural resources

Land use

Irrigated land

Natural hazards

Environment

Current Issues

International Agreements

Note

See also

Location

Suriname is located in northern South America and is part of Caribbean South America, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between French Guiana and Guyana.
'Geographic coordinates:'
'Map references:'
South America

Area

''Total:''
163,270 km²

''Land:''
161,470 km²

''Water:''
1,800 km²
'Area - Comparative:'
Slightly larger than the U.S. state of Georgia.

Land boundaries:

''Total:''
1,707 km

''Border Countries:''
Brazil- 597 km, French Guiana- 510 km, Guyana- 600 km
'Coastline:'
386 km

Maritime claims

''Exclusive economic zone:''
200 nm

''territorial sea:''
12 nm

Climate and Terrain

Climate

Suriname has a tropical environment, and is moderated by strong winds.

Terrain

Most of the country is made up of rolling hills, but there is a narrow coastal plain that has swampy terrain.

Elevation extremes

''Lowest point:''
Unnamed location in the coastal plain- 2 m below Sea Level.

''Highest point:''
Juliana Top-4,200ft

Natural resources

Timber, hydropower, fish, kaolin, shrimp, bauxite and gold. Small amounts of nickel, copper, platinum and iron ore.

Land use

(Using 1993 Estimates)

''Arable land''
.36%

''Permanent crops''
>06%

''Permanent pastures:''
0%

''Other:''
99.58%

Irrigated land

(Using 1993 Estimates)
600 km²

Natural hazards

N/A

Environment

Current Issues

Deforestation is a real problem as timber is cut for export. There is also a lot of pollution of inland waterways by small-scale mining activities.

International Agreements

Suriname has agreed to the following agreements:
Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands

Note

Mostly tropical rain forest, containing a great diversity of flora and fauna that, for the most part, are increasingly threatened by new development. There is a relatively small population, most of which live along the coast.

See also

★ Suriname