Location Southeastern Asia, group of islands including the eastern half of the island of New Guinea between the Coral Sea and the South Pacific Ocean, east of Indonesia

Geographic coordinates 6 00 S, 147 00 E

Map references Oceania

Area
total: 462,840 sq km
land: 452,860 sq km
water: 9,980 sq km

Area - comparative slightly larger than California

Land boundaries
total: 820 km
border countries: Indonesia 820 km

Coastline 5,152 km

Maritime claims measured from claimed archipelagic baselines
territorial sea: 12 NM
continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation
exclusive fishing zone: 200 NM

Climate tropical; northwest monsoon (December to March), southeast monsoon (May to October); slight seasonal temperature variation

Terrain mostly mountains with coastal lowlands and rolling foothills

Elevation extremes
lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m
highest point: Mount Wilhelm 4,509 m

Natural resources gold, copper, silver, natural gas, timber, oil, fisheries

Land use
arable land: 0%
permanent crops: 1%
other: 99% (1998 est.)

Irrigated land NA sq km

Natural hazards active volcanism; situated along the Pacific "Ring of Fire"; the country is subject to frequent and sometimes severe earthquakes; mud slides; tsunamis

Environment - current issues rain forest subject to deforestation as a result of growing commercial demand for tropical timber; pollution from mining projects; severe drought

Environment - international agreements
party to: Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol

Geography - note shares island of New Guinea with Indonesia; one of world's largest swamps along southwest coast

NOTE: The information regarding Papua New Guinea on this page is re-published from the 2002 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Papua New Guinea Geography 2002 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Papua New Guinea Geography 2002 should be addressed to the CIA.