Belarus' Geography | Belarus Geography

Location: Eastern Europe, east of Poland

Geographic coordinates: 53 00 N, 28 00 E

Map references: Europe

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

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