nd Futuna
2 Netherlands - Aruba, Netherlands Antilles
3 New Zealand - Cook Islands, Niue, Tokelau
3 Norway - Bouvet Island, Jan Mayen, Svalbard
15 UK - Anguilla, Bermuda, British Indian Ocean Territory, British
Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Guernsey,
Jersey, Isle of Man, Montserrat, Pitcairn Islands, Saint Helena, South
Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands
14 US - American Samoa, Baker Island, Guam, Howland Island, Jarvis
Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Midway Islands, Navassa Island,
Northern Mariana Islands, Palmyra Atoll, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands,
Wake Island

MISCELLANEOUS
6 Antarctica, Gaza Strip, Paracel Islands, Spratly Islands, West
Bank, Western Sahara

OTHER ENTITIES
5 oceans - Arctic Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Pacific
Ocean, Southern Ocean
1 World
267 total

Environment - current issues
This entry lists the most pressing and important environmental
problems. The following terms and abbreviations are used throughout
the entry:

acidification - the lowering of soil and water pH due to acid
precipitation and deposition usually through precipitation; this
process disrupts ecosystem nutrient flows and may kill freshwater fish
and plants dependent on more neutral or alkaline conditions (see acid
rain).

acid rain - characterized as containing harmful levels of sulfur
dioxide or nitrogen oxide; acid rain is damaging and potentially deadly
to the earth's fragile ecosystems; acidity is measured using the pH
scale where 7 is neutral, values greater than 7 are considered
alkaline, and values below 5.6 are considered acid precipitation; note
- a pH of 2.4 (the acidity of vinegar) has been measured in rainfall in
New England.

aerosol - a collection of airborne particles dispersed in a gas,
smoke, or fog.

afforestation - converting a bare or agricultural space by
planting trees and plants; reforestation involves replanting trees on
areas that have been cut or destroyed by fire.

asbestos - a naturally occurring soft fibrous mineral commonly
used in fireproofing materials and considered to be highly carcinogenic
in particulate form.

biodiversity - also biological diversity; the relative number of
species, diverse in form and function, at the genetic, organism,
community, and ecosystem level; loss of biodiversity reduces an
ecosystem's ability to recover f