Oceania, group of islands in the Pacific Ocean, straddling
the equator, about one-half of the way from Hawaii to Australia; note
- on 1 January 1995, Kiribati unilaterally moved the International
Date Line from the middle of the country to include its easternmost
islands and make it the same day throughout the country

1 25 N, 173 00 E

Oceania

total: 717 sq km
land: 717 sq km
water: 0 sq km
note: includes three island groups - Gilbert Islands, Line Islands,
Phoenix Islands

four times the size of Washington, DC

0 km

1,143 km

exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 12 nm

tropical; marine, hot and humid, moderated by trade winds

mostly low-lying coral atolls surrounded by extensive reefs

lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m
highest point: unnamed location on Banaba 81 m

phosphate (production discontinued in 1979)

arable land: 0%
permanent crops: 51%
permanent pastures: 0%
forests and woodland: 3%
other: 46% (1993 est.)

NA sq km

typhoons can occur any time, but usually November to
March; occasional tornadoes; low-level of some of the islands make
them very sensitive to sea-level rise

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

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered
Species, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

20 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