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Germany

1056-58 S. Cochran Ave, Los Angeles

practical information

practical information

Germany

• Location:
  
Central Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, between the Netherlands and Poland, south of Denmark


• Map references:
  
Europe


• Area:
  


total area: 356,910 sq km


land area: 349,520 sq km


comparative area: slightly smaller than Montana


note: includes the formerly separate Federal Republic of Germany, the German Democratic Republic, and Berlin following formal unification on 3 October 1990


• Land boundaries:
  
total 3,621 km, Austria 784 km, Belgium 167 km, Czech Republic 646 km, Denmark 68 km, France 451 km, Luxembourg 138 km, Netherlands 577 km, Poland 456 km, Switzerland 334 km


• Coastline:
  
2,389 km


• Maritime claims:
  


continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation


exclusive economic zone: 200 nm


territorial sea: 12 nm


• International disputes:
  
none


• Climate:
  
temperate and marine; cool, cloudy, wet winters and summers; occasional warm, tropical foehn wind; high relative humidity


• Terrain:
  
lowlands in north, uplands in center, Bavarian Alps in south


• Natural resources:
  
iron ore, coal, potash, timber, lignite, uranium, copper, natural gas, salt, nickel


• Land use:
  


arable land: 34%


permanent crops: 1%


meadows and pastures: 16%


forest and woodland: 30%


other: 19%


• Irrigated land:
  
4,800 sq km (1989 est.)


• Environment:
  


current issues: emissions from coal-burning utilities and industries and lead emissions from vehicle exhausts (the result of continued use of leaded fuels) contribute to air pollution; acid rain, resulting from sulfur dioxide emissions, is damaging forests; heavy pollution in the Baltic Sea from raw sewage and industrial effluents from rivers in eastern Germany


natural hazards: NA


international agreements: party to - Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Wetlands, Whaling; signed, but not ratified - Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Desertification, Hazardous Wastes


• Note:
  
strategic location on North European Plain and along the entrance to the Baltic Sea