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This page was last updated on 18 December, 2008

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@Marshall Islands

Introduction
Marshall Islands

Background:

After almost four decades under US administration as the easternmost
part of the UN Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, the Marshall
Islands attained independence in 1986 under a Compact of Free
Association. Compensation claims continue as a result of US nuclear
testing on some of the atolls between 1947 and 1962. The Marshall
Islands hosts the US Army Kwajalein Atoll (USAKA) Reagan Missile
Test Site, a key installation in the US missile defense network.

Geography
Marshall Islands

Location:

Oceania, two archipelagic island chains of 29 atolls, each made up
of many small islets, and five single islands in the North Pacific
Ocean, about half way between Hawaii and Australia

Geographic coordinates:

9 00 N, 168 00 E

Map references:

Oceania

Area:

total: 181.3 sq km
land: 181.3 sq km
water: 0 sq km
note: the archipelago includes 11,673 sq km of lagoon waters and
includes the atolls of Bikini, Enewetak, Kwajalein, Majuro,
Rongelap, and Utirik

Area - comparative:

about the size of Washington, DC

Land boundaries:

0 km

Coastline:

370.4 km

Maritime claims:

territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm

Climate:

tropical; hot and humid; wet season May to November; islands border
typhoon belt

Terrain:

low coral limestone and sand islands

Elevation extremes:

lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m
highest point: unnamed location on Likiep 10 m

Natural resources:

coconut products, marine products, deep seabed minerals

Land use:

arable land: 11.11%
permanent crops: 44.44%
other: 44.45% (2005)

Irrigated land:

0 sq km

Natural hazards:

infrequent typhoons

Environment - current issues:

inadequate supplies of potable water; pollution of Majuro lagoon
from household waste and discharges from fishing vessels

Environment - international agreements:

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto
Protocol, Desertification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone
Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note:

the Marshall Islands Bikini and Enewetak are former US nu