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Physical geography
Tunisia has a coastline 1,148 kilometres in length. In maritime terms, the country claims a contiguous zone of 24 nautical miles, and a territorial sea of 12 nautical miles.
Tunisia's climate is temperate in the north, with mild rainy winters and hot, dry summers. The south of the country is desert. The terrain in the north is mountainous, which, moving south, gives way to a hot, dry central plain. The south is semiarid, and merges into the Sahara. A series of salt lakes, known as chotts or shatts, lie in an east-west line at the northern edge of the Sahara, extending from the Gulf of Gabes into Algeria. The lowest point is Chott el Gharsa, at -17 m, and the highest is Jabal ash Shanabi, at 1,544 m.
Natural resources
Tunisia possesses petroleum, phosphates, iron ore, lead, zinc, salt and arable land. 3,850 km² of land is irrigated in Tunisia. The use of land in the country is demonstrated in the following table.
| Use | Percentage of Area (1993) |
|---|---|
| arable land | 19 |
| permanent crops | 13 |
| permanent pastures | 20 |
| forests and woodland | 4 |
| other | 44 |
Environment
Current environmental issues for Tunisia include:
- Toxic and hazardous waste - disposal is ineffective and presents human health risks
- Water pollution from raw sewage
- Limited natural fresh water resources
- Deforestation
- Overgrazing
- Soil erosion
- Desertification
Tunisia is a party to the following international agreements: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution (MARPOL 73/78) and Wetlands.
Tunisia has signed, but not ratified the Marine Life Conservation agreement.
See also
