Geography of East Timor



East Timor includes the mountainous eastern half of Timor, the Ocussi-Ambeno region on the northwest portion of the island of Timor, and the islands of Atauro and Jaco. The country is located northwest of Australia in the Lesser Sunda Islands at the eastern end of the Indonesian Archipelago. 'Timor' is a Portuguese derivation of 'Timor', the Malay word for "Orient"; the island of Timor is part of the Malay Archipelago and is the largest and easternmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East Timor is the only Asian nation to lie entirely within the Southern Hemisphere. The Loes River is the longest with a length of 80 km. This river system covers an area of 2184 km2. It is a small country with a land size of 14,919 km2. The exclusive economic zone is 70,326 km2.

Statistics

 * Area
 * Total: 14,874 km2
 * Land: 14,874 km2
 * Water: 0 km2


 * Land boundaries
 * Total: 2538 km
 * Border countries: Indonesia (253 km)


 * Coastline:
 * 706 km


 * Maritime claims
 * Territorial sea: 12 nmi
 * Contiguous zone: 24 nmo
 * Exclusive economic zone: 70,326 km2 and 200 nmi

Elevation extremes

 * Lowest point: Timor Sea, Savu Sea, and Banda Sea 0 m
 * Highest point: Tatamailau (2963 m)


 * Natural resources:
 * Gold, petroleum, natural gas, manganese, marble


 * Land use
 * Arable land: 10.1%
 * Permanent crops: 4.9%
 * Permanent pasture: 10.1%
 * Forest: 49.1%
 * Other: 25.8% (2011)


 * Irrigated land:
 * 346.5 km2 (2003)

Climate

 * The islands have a tropical savanna climate, bordering on a tropical monsoon climate; hot and humid with distinct rainy and dry seasons. Tropical cyclones do occur along with floods.

Environment

 * Natural hazards:
 * Landslides are common; earthquakes; and tsunamis.


 * Environment - current issues
 * Widespread use of slash and burn agriculture has led to deforestation and soil erosion.
 * Widespread use of slash and burn agriculture has led to deforestation and soil erosion.
 * Widespread use of slash and burn agriculture has led to deforestation and soil erosion.


 * Environment - international agreements:
 * Biodiversity, climate change, climate change-Kyoto Protocol, desertification