resources, a well-educated population, and a diverse, but declining,
industrial base, continues to experience formidable difficulties in
moving from its old centrally planned economy to a modern market
economy. Most of 1996 was a lost year for economic reforms, with
government officials focused in the first half of the year on
President YEL'TSIN's reelection and then on his medical problems. The
only major success was in the fight against inflation, which fell from
131% in 1995 to 22% in 1996. Russia failed to make any progress in
restructuring its social welfare programs to target the most needy -
among whom are many of the old pensioners - or to pass needed tax
reform. While approximately 75% of industry has now been privatized,
the agricultural sector has undergone little reform since the break-up
of the Soviet Union. Stockholder rights remain weak while crime and
corruption are rampant in much of the economy. Many enterprises
continue to operate without hard budget constraints, resulting in
barter trade and increased inter-enterprise debts. According to
official statistics, the Russian economy declined for the fifth
straight year since the beginning of reforms, with GDP in 1996 falling
by 6% and industrial output by 5%. The true size of the Russian
economy remains controversial, however, with estimates of unreported
economic activity ranging from 20%-50% of GDP. Indeed, according to
Russian statistics, the Russian consumer has seen a small improvement
in the last several years, with real average incomes growing by about
8% from early 1993 to late 1996. The share of the Russian population
living below the poverty line is said to have dropped from one-third
in early 1993 to one-fifth in late 1996. Few Russians lack basic
necessities, and ownership of consumer goods such as VCRs and
automobiles has increased markedly. The growth of wage and pension
arrears slowed in the second half of 1996, and the government pledged
to clear all budget-funded wage and pension arrears by the end of
1997. The government continued to be plagued with tax collection
problems during 1996, forcing it to cut its planned spending by 18%. A
crackdown on major tax debtors at the end of the year had only limited
success. Spending by all levels of government remains high, between
40%-45% of GDP. The economy is continuing its integration into world
markets. Russia's trade surplus, after adjustment for unreported
"shuttle" trade, grew to a record $28.5 billion in 1996, according to
official Russian statistics. Export growth, which slowed from 18% to
9%, was due mostly to increased raw material prices. After increasing
by 15% in 1995, imports dipped by 2% in 1996 as Russian demand for
Western consumer goods slackened. Russia is continuing to make
progress in its WTrO negotiations; the government has made quick
accession one of its major policy goals. The continued unsettled
economic and political situation has discouraged foreign investment,
which totaled only $6.5 billion in 1996, including $2.1 billion in
direct investment; furthermore, capital flight continues to exceed in
volume the inflow of foreign capital. The central bank estimates that
$30 billion in US currency circulates in the Russian economy. In March
1997, YEL'TSIN signaled his intention to restart stalled economic
reforms by reorganizing the cabinet, bringing in a new team of
ministers with strong reform credentials.
GDP: purchasing power parity - $767 billion (1996 estimate as
extrapolated from World Bank estimate for 1994)
GDP - real growth rate: -6% (1996 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $5,200 (1996 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: NA%
industry: NA%
services: NA%
Inflation rate - consumer price index: 22% (1996)
Labor force:
total: 73 million (1996)
by occupation : NA
Unemployment rate: 9.3% (December 1996) (according to ILO definition)
with considerable additional underemployment
Budget:
revenues : $NA
expenditures: $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA
Industries: complete range of mining and extractive industries
producing coal, oil, gas, chemicals, and metals; all forms of machine
building from rolling mills to high-performance aircraft and space
vehicles; shipbuilding; road and rail transportation equipment;
communications equipment; agricultural machinery, tractors, and
construction equipment; electric power generating and transmitting
equipment; medical and scientific instruments; consumer durables,
textiles, foodstuffs, handicrafts
Industrial production growth rate: -5% (1996)
Electricity - capacity: 214.69 million kW (1994)
Electricity - production: 833.16 billion kWh (1994)
Electricity - consumption per capita: 5,114 kWh (1995 est.)
Agriculture - products: grain, sugar beets, sunflower seed,
vegetables, fruits (because of its northern location does not grow
citrus, cotton, tea, and other warm climate products); meat, milk
Exports:
total value: $88.3 billion (1996)
commodities : petroleum and petroleum products, natural gas, wood and
wood products, metals, chemicals, and a wide variety of civilian and
military manufactures
partners: Europe, North America, Japan, Third World countries
Imports:
total value: $59.8 billion (1996)
commodities : machinery and equipment, consumer goods, medicines,
meat, grain, sugar, semifinished metal products
partners: Europe, North America, Japan, Third World countries
Debt - external: $130 billion (yearend 1996)
Economic aid:
recipient: ODA, $13 billion (1990-96)
note : US commitments, including Ex-Im, $15 billion (1990-96); other
countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1990-96), $125 billion
Currency: 1 ruble (R) = 100 kopeks
Exchange rates: rubles per US$1 - 5,727 (March 1997), 5,121 (1996),
4,559 (1995), 2,191 (1994), 992 (1993)
Fiscal year: calendar year
@Russia:Communications
Telephones: 25.4 million (1993 est.)
Telephone system: total pay phones for long distant calls 34,100;
enlisting foreign help, by means of joint ventures, to speed up the
modernization of its telecommunications system; in 1992, only 661,000
new telephones were installed compared with 855,000 in 1991, and in
1992 the number of unsatisfied applications for telephones reached
11,000,000; expanded access to international electronic mail service
available via Sprint network; the inadequacy of Russian
telecommunications is a severe handicap to the economy, especially
with respect to international connections
domestic: NMT-450 analog cellular telephone networks are operational
and growing in Moscow and St. Petersburg; intercity fiber-optic cable
installation remains limited
international: international traffic is inadequately handled by a
system of satellites, landlines, microwave radio relay, and outdated
submarine cables; much of this traffic passes through the
international gateway switch in Moscow which carries most of the
international traffic for the other countries of the Commonwealth of
Independent States; a new Russian Intersputnik satellite will link
Moscow and St. Petersburg with Rome from whence calls will be relayed
to destinations in Europe and overseas; satellite earth stations - NA
Intelsat, 4 Intersputnik (2 Atlantic Ocean Region and 2 Indian Ocean
Region), NA Eutelsat, 1 Inmarsat (Pacific Ocean Region), and NA Orbita
Radio broadcast stations: AM NA, FM NA, shortwave NA; note - there are
about 1,050 (including AM, FM, and shortwave) radio broadcast stations
throughout the country
Radios: 50 million (1993 est.)(radio receivers with multiple speaker
systems for program diffusion 74,300,000)
Television broadcast stations: 7,183
Televisions: 54.85 million (1992 est.)
@Russia:Transportation
Railways:
total: 154,000 km; note - 87,000 km in common carrier service (38,000
km electrified); 67,000 km serve specific industries and are not
available for common carrier use
broad gauge: 154,000 km 1.520-m gauge (1 January 1994)
Highways:
total : 948,000 km (including 416,000 km which serve specific
industries or farms and are not maintained by governmental highway
maintenance departments)
paved: 336,000 km
unpaved: 612,000 km (including 411,000 km of graveled or other forms
of macadam surface and 201,000 km of unstabilized earth) (1995 est.)
Waterways: total navigable routes in general use 101,000 km; routes
with navigation guides serving the Russian River Fleet 95,900 km;
routes with night navigational aids 60,400 km; man-made navigable
routes 16,900 km (1 January 1994)
Pipelines: crude oil 48,000 km; petroleum products 15,000 km; natural
gas 140,000 km (30 June 1993)
Ports and harbors: Arkhangel'sk, Astrakhan', Kaliningrad, Kazan',
Khabarovsk, Kholmsk, Krasnoyarsk, Moscow, Murmansk, Nakhodka,
Nevel'sk, Novorossiysk, Petropavlovsk, St. Petersburg, Rostov, Sochi,
Tuapse, Vladivostok, Volgograd, Vostochnyy, Vyborg
Merchant marine:
total: 660 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 5,731,677 GRT/7,940,756
DWT
ships by type: barge carrier 1, bulk 24, cargo 348, chemical tanker 1,
combination bulk 21, combination ore/oil 15, container 28,
multifunction large-load carrier 3, oil tanker 136, passenger 6,
passenger-cargo 4, refrigerated cargo 20, roll-on/roll-off cargo 38,
short-sea passenger 13, specialized tanker 2
note: Russia owns an additional 137 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling
2,466,872 DWT operating under the registries of The Bahamas, Cyprus,
Honduras, Liberia, Malta, Panama, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,
Singapore, and Vanuatu (1996 est.)
Airports: 2,517 (1994 est.)
Airports - with paved runways:
total: 630
over 3,047 m : 54
2,438 to 3,047 m: 202
1,524 to 2,437 m : 108
914 to 1,523 m: 115
under 914 m: 151 (1994 est.)
Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 1,887
over 3,047 m : 25
2,438 to 3,047 m: 45
1,524 to 2,437 m: 134
914 to 1,523 m: 291
under 914 m: 1,392 (1994 est.)
Military
Military branches: Ground Forces, Navy, Air Forces, Air Defense
Forces, Strategic Rocket Forces
Military manpower - military age: 18 years of age
Military manpower - availability:
males age 15-49: 38,449,126 (1997 est.)
Military manpower - fit for military service:
males : 29,996,967 (1997 est.)
Military manpower - reaching military age annually:
males: 1,115,858 (1997 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure: $NA
note : the Intelligence Community estimates that defense spending in
Russia fell by about 10% in real terms in 1996, reducing Russian
defense outlays to about one-sixth of peak Soviet levels in the late
1980s (1997 est.)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP: NA%
Transnational Issues
Disputes - international: inherited disputes from former USSR
including sections of the boundary with China; islands of Etorofu,
Kunashiri, and Shikotan and the Habomai group occupied by the Soviet
Union in 1945, administered by Russia, claimed by Japan; Caspian Sea
boundaries are not yet determined among Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakstan,
Russia, and Turkmenistan; potential dispute with Ukraine over Crimea;
Estonian and Russian negotiators reached a technical order agreement
in December 1996, which Estonia is prepared to sign and ratify in
January 1997; Estonia had claimed over 2,000 sq km of Russian
territory in the Narva and Pechora regions - based on boundary
established under the 1920 Peace Treaty of Tartu; based on the 1920
Treaty of Riga, Latvia had claimed the Abrene/Pytalovo section of the
border ceded by the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic to Russia in
1944; has made no territorial claim in Antarctica (but has reserved
the right to do so) and does not recognize the claims of any other
nation; dispute with Lithuania over the position of the riparian and
maritime boundary with Kaliningrad Oblast; Svalbard is the focus of a
maritime boundary dispute in the Barents Sea between Norway and Russia
Illicit drugs: limited cultivation of cannabis and opium poppy, mostly
for domestic consumption; government has active eradication program;
increasingly used as transshipment point for Southwest and Southeast
Asian opiates and cannabis and Latin American cocaine to Western
Europe and the US
______________________________________________________________________
RWANDA
Introduction
Current issues: following the outbreak of genocidal strife in Rwanda
in April 1994 between Tutsi and Hutu factions, more than 2 million
refugees fled to neighboring Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda and Democratic
Republic of the Congo, formerly Zaire; according to the UN High
Commission on Refugees, in 1996 and early 1997 nearly 1,300,000 Hutus
returned to Rwanda; of these, 720,000 returned from Zaire, 480,000
from Tanzania, 88,000 from Burundi, and 10,000 from Uganda
@Rwanda:Geography
Location: Central Africa, east of Democratic Republic of the Congo
Geographic coordinates: 2 00 S, 30 00 E
Map references: Africa
Area:
total: 26,340 sq km
land: 24,950 sq km
water: 1,390 sq km
Area - comparative: slightly smaller than Maryland
Land boundaries:
total: 893 km
border countries: Burundi 290 km, Democratic Republic of the Congo 217
km, Tanzania 217 km, Uganda 169 km
Coastline: 0 km (landlocked)
Maritime claims: none (landlocked)
Climate: temperate; two rainy seasons (February to April, November to
January); mild in mountains with frost and snow possible
Terrain: mostly grassy uplands and hills; relief is mountainous with
altitude declining from west to east
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Rusizi River 950 m
highest point : Volcan Karisimbi 4,519 m
Natural resources: gold, cassiterite (tin ore), wolframite (tungsten
ore), natural gas, hydropower
Land use:
arable land: 35%
permanent crops: 13%
permanent pastures : 18%
forests and woodland: 22%
other: 12% (1993 est.)
Irrigated land: 40 sq km (1993 est.)
Natural hazards: periodic droughts; the volcanic Virunga mountains are
in the northwest along the border with Democratic Republic of the
Congo
Environment - current issues: deforestation results from uncontrolled
cutting of trees for fuel; overgrazing; soil exhaustion; soil erosion
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Endangered Species, Nuclear Test Ban
signed, but not ratified : Climate Change, Desertification, Law of the
Sea
Geography - note: landlocked; predominantly rural population
@Rwanda:People
Population: 7,737,537 (July 1997 est.)
note : genocide and civil war in 1994 killed more than 1 million
Rwandans and forced more than 2 million to flee to neighboring
countries
Age structure:
0-14 years: 45% (male 1,769,247; female 1,757,957)
15-64 years: 52% (male 1,978,076; female 2,018,141)
65 years and over: 3% (male 88,556; female 125,560) (July 1997 est.)
Population growth rate: 8.24% (1997 est.)
Birth rate: 38.73 births/1,000 population (1997 est.)
Death rate: 21.06 deaths/1,000 population (1997 est.)
Net migration rate: 64.78 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1997 est.)
note: following the outbreak of genocidal strife in Rwanda in April
1994 between Tutsi and Hutu factions, more than 2 million refugees
fled to neighboring Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, and Democratic Republic
of the Congo, formerly Zaire; according to the UN High Commission on
Refugees, in 1996 and early 1997 nearly 1,300,000 Hutus returned to
Rwanda; of these 720,000 returned from Democratic Republic of the
Congo, 480,000 from Tanzania, 88,000 from Burundi, and 10,000 from
Uganda
Sex ratio:
at birth : 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.7 male(s)/female
total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (1997 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 118.8 deaths/1,000 live births (1997 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 39.11 years
male : 38.64 years
female: 39.6 years (1997 est.)
Total fertility rate: 5.93 children born/woman (1997 est.)
Nationality:
noun : Rwandan(s)
adjective: Rwandan
Ethnic groups: Hutu 80%, Tutsi 19%, Twa (Pygmoid) 1%
Religions: Roman Catholic 65%, Protestant 9%, Muslim 1%, indigenous
beliefs and other 25%
Languages: Kinyarwanda (official) universal Bantu vernacular, French
(official), English (official), Kiswahili (Swahili) used in commercial
centers
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population : 60.5%
male: 69.8%
female: 51.6% (1995 est.)
@Rwanda:Government
Country name:
conventional long form: Rwandese Republic
conventional short form : Rwanda
local long form: Republika y'u Rwanda
local short form: Rwanda
Data code: RW
Government type: republic; presidential, multiparty system
National capital: Kigali
Administrative divisions: 10 prefectures (prefectures, singular -
prefecture in French; plural - NA, singular - prefegitura in
Kinyarwanda); Butare, Byumba, Cyangugu, Gikongoro, Gisenyi, Gitarama,
Kibungo, Kibuye, Kigali, Ruhengeri
Independence: 1 July 1962 (from Belgium-administered UN trusteeship)
National holiday: Independence Day, 1 July (1962)
Constitution: on 5 May 1995, the Transitional National Assembly
adopted a new constitution which included elements of the constitution
of 18 June 1991 as well as provisions of the 1993 Arusha peace accord
and the November 1994 multi-party protocol of understanding
Legal system: based on German and Belgian civil law systems and
customary law; judicial review of legislative acts in the Supreme
Court; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
Suffrage: NA years of age; universal adult
Executive branch:
chief of state: President Pasteur BIZIMUNGU (since 19 July 1994); Vice
President Maj. Gen. Paul KAGAME (since 19 July 1994)
head of government: Prime Minister Celestin RWIGEMA (since 1 September
1995)
cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president
elections : current president installed by force by the Tutsi Rwandan
Patriotic Front; normally the president is elected by popular vote for
a five-year term; elections last held NA (next to be held NA); prime
minister appointed by the president
Legislative branch: unicameral Transitional National Assembly or
Assemblee Nationale de Transition (70 seats; members were
predetermined by the Arusha peace accord to serve NA-year terms)
elections: last held 26 December 1988 ( next to be held NA); note -
the Transitional National Assembly is a power-sharing body established
on 12 December 1994 following a multi-party protocol of understanding
election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - RPF
19, MDR 13, PSD 13, PL 13, PDC 6, PSR 2, PDI 2, other 2; note - the
distribution of seats was predetermined
Judicial branch: Constitutional Court, consists of the Court of
Cassation and the Council of State in joint session
Political parties and leaders: significant parties include: Rwandan
Patriotic Front or RPF [Alexis KANYARENGWE, chairman]; Democratic
Republican Movement or MDR; Liberal Party or PL; Democratic and
Socialist Party or PSD; Christian Democratic Party or PDC; Islamic
Democratic Party or PDI; Rwandan Socialist Party or PSR; National
Movement for Democracy and Development or MRND, former ruling party
Political pressure groups and leaders: Rwanda Patriotic Army or RPA,
the RPF military wing [Maj. Gen. Paul KAGAME, commander]; Rally for
the Democracy and Return (RDR)
International organization participation: ACCT, ACP, AfDB, CCC, CEEAC,
CEPGL, ECA, FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS,
ILO, IMF, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ITU, NAM, OAU, UN,
UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCL, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO
Diplomatic representation in the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Theogene N. RUDASINGWA
chancery: (temporary) Suites C1 and C2, 2141 Wisconsin Avenue, NW,
Washington, DC 20007
telephone : [1] (202) 232-2882
FAX: [1] (202) 232-4544
Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Robert GRIBBIN III
embassy: Boulevard de la Revolution, Kigali
mailing address: B. P. 28, Kigali
telephone : [250] 756 01 through 03, 721 26, 771 47
FAX: [250] 721 28
Flag description: three equal vertical bands of red (hoist side),
yellow, and green with a large black letter R centered in the yellow
band; uses the popular pan-African colors of Ethiopia; similar to the
flag of Guinea, which has a plain yellow band
Economy
Economy - overview: Rwanda is a poor African nation suffering bitterly
from ethnic-based civil war. The agricultural sector dominates the
economy; coffee and tea normally make up 80%-90% of exports. The
amount of fertile land is limited, however, and deforestation and soil
erosion continue to reduce the production potential. Manufacturing
focuses mainly on the processing of agricultural products. A
structural adjustment program with the World Bank began in October
1990. Ethnic-based insurgency since 1990 has devastated wide areas,
especially in the north, and displaced hundreds of thousands of
people. A peace accord in mid-1993 temporarily ended most of the
fighting, but resumption of large-scale civil warfare in April 1994 in
the capital city Kigali and elsewhere took 500,000 lives in that year
alone and severely damaged already poor economic prospects. Sketchy
data suggest that GDP dropped 50% in 1994 and came back partially, by
25%, in 1995. Plentiful rains helped agriculture in 1996, and outside
aid continued to support this desperately poor economy. The economy
continues to suffer massively from failure to maintain the
infrastructure, looting, neglect of important cash crops, and lack of
health care facilities. Because of the accumulated damage to capital
plant and the decline in public discipline, recovery of domestic
production will proceed slowly.
GDP: purchasing power parity - $3.8 billion (1995 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: NA%
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $400 (1995 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture : 52%
industry: 13%
services: 35% (1994 est.)
Inflation rate - consumer price index: 22% (1995 est.)
Labor force:
total: 3.6 million
by occupation: agriculture 93%, government and services 5%, industry
and commerce 2%
Unemployment rate: NA%
Budget:
revenues: $NA
expenditures: $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA
Industries: mining of cassiterite (tin ore) and wolframite (tungsten
ore), tin, cement, processing of agricultural products, small-scale
beverage production, soap, furniture, shoes, plastic goods, textiles,
cigarettes
Industrial production growth rate: NA%
Electricity - capacity: 60,000 kW
Electricity - production: 190 million kWh
Electricity - consumption per capita: 23 kWh (1993 est.)
Agriculture - products: coffee, tea, pyrethrum (insecticide made from
chrysanthemums), bananas, beans, sorghum, potatoes; livestock
Exports:
total value: $51.2 million (f.o.b., 1995 est.)
commodities: coffee 63%, tea, cassiterite, wolframite, pyrethrum
partners : Brazil, EU
Imports:
total value: $237.3 million (f.o.b.,1995 est.)
commodities: textiles, foodstuffs, machines and equipment, capital
goods, steel, petroleum products, cement and construction material
partners: US, EU, Kenya, Tanzania
Debt - external: $1 billion (December 1995)
Economic aid:
recipient: ODA, $NA
note: in October 1990 Rwanda launched a Structural Adjustment Program
with the IMF; since September 1991, the EU has given $46 million and
the US $25 million in support of this program (1993)
Currency: 1 Rwandan franc (RF) = 100 centimes
Exchange rates: Rwandan francs (RF) per US$1 - 309.85 (December 1996),
306.82 (1996), 262.20 (1995), 144.31 (1993), 133.35 (1992)
Fiscal year: calendar year
@Rwanda:Communications
Telephones: 6,400 (1983 est.)
Telephone system: telephone system does not provide service to the
general public but is intended for business and government use
domestic : the capital, Kigali, is connected to the centers of the
prefectures by microwave radio relay; the remainder of the network
depends on wire and HF radiotelephone
international: international connections employ microwave radio relay
to neighboring countries and satellite communications to more distant
countries; satellite earth stations - 1 Intelsat (Indian Ocean) in
Kigali (includes telex and telefax service)
Radio broadcast stations: AM 1, FM 1, shortwave 0
Radios: 630,000 (1993 est.)
Television broadcast stations: 1
Televisions: NA
@Rwanda:Transportation
Railways: 0 km
Highways:
total : 12,000 km
paved: 1,000 km
unpaved: 11,000 km (1997 est.)
Waterways: Lac Kivu navigable by shallow-draft barges and native craft
Ports and harbors: Cyangugu, Gisenyi, Kibuye
Airports: 7 (1996 est.)
Airports - with paved runways:
total: 6
over 3,047 m: 1
914 to 1,523 m : 2
under 914 m: 3 (1996 est.)
Airports - with unpaved runways:
total : 1
914 to 1,523 m: 1 (1996 est.)
Military
Military branches: Army, Gendarmerie
Military manpower - availability:
males age 15-49: 1,806,832 (1997 est.)
Military manpower - fit for military service:
males: 920,343 (1997 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure: $112.5 million (1992)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 7% (1992)
Transnational Issues
Disputes - international: none
______________________________________________________________________
SAINT HELENA
(dependent territory of the UK)
@Saint Helena:Geography
Location: Southern Africa, island in the South Atlantic Ocean, west of
Angola, about two-thirds of the way from South America to Africa
Geographic coordinates: 15 56 S, 5 42 W
Map references: Africa
Area:
total: 410 sq km
land: 410 sq km
water: 0 sq km
note: includes Ascension, Gough Island, Inaccessible Island,
Nightingale Island, and Tristan da Cunha
Area - comparative: slightly more than two times the size of
Washington, DC
Land boundaries: 0 km
Coastline: 60 km
Maritime claims:
exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 12 nm
Climate: tropical; marine; mild, tempered by trade winds
Terrain: rugged, volcanic; small scattered plateaus and plains
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
highest point: Queen Mary's Peak 2,060 m
Natural resources: fish
Land use:
arable land: 6%
permanent crops: NA%
permanent pastures : 6%
forests and woodland: 6%
other: 82% (1993 est.)
Irrigated land: NA sq km
Natural hazards: active volcanism on Tristan da Cunha
Environment - current issues: NA
Environment - international agreements:
party to: NA
signed, but not ratified: NA