User:Kvesquer24/sandbox

Geography and climate


Belarus lies between latitudes 51° and 57° N, and longitudes 23° and 33° E. Its extension from north to south is 560 km, from west to east is 650 km. It is landlocked, relatively flat, and contains large tracts of marshy land. About 40% of Belarus is covered by forests.

Many streams and 11,000 lakes are found in Belarus. Three major rivers run through the country: the Neman, the Pripyat, and the Dnieper. The Neman flows westward towards the Baltic sea and the Pripyat flows eastward to the Dnieper; the Dnieper flows southward towards the Black Sea.

The highest point is Dzyarzhynskaya Hara (Dzyarzhynsk Hill) at 345 m, and the lowest point is on the Neman River at 90 m. The average elevation of Belarus is 160 m above sea level. The climate features mild to cold winters, with average January minimum temperatures ranges from -4 °C in southwest (Brest) to -8 °C in northeast (Vitebsk), and cool and moist summers with an average temperature of 18 °C. Belarus has an average annual rainfall of 550 to 700 mm. The country is in the transitional zone between continental climates and maritime climates.

Natural resources include peat deposits, small quantities of oil and natural gas, granite, dolomite (limestone), marl, chalk, sand, gravel, and clay. About 70% of the radiation from neighboring Ukraine's 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster entered Belarusian territory, and about a fifth of Belarusian land (principally farmland and forests in the southeastern regions) was affected by radiation fallout. The United Nations and other agencies have aimed to reduce the level of radiation in affected areas, especially through the use of caesium binders and rapeseed cultivation, which are meant to decrease soil levels of caesium-137.

Belarus borders five countries: Latvia to the north, Lithuania to the northwest, Poland to the west, Russia to the north and the east, and Ukraine to the south. Treaties in 1995 and 1996 demarcated Belarus's borders with Latvia and Lithuania, and Belarus ratified a 1997 treaty establishing the Belarus-Ukraine border in 2009. Belarus and Lithuania ratified final border demarcation documents in February 2007.

Belarus has many commitments to fighting climate change, they have been a part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) since August, 2000, as well as the Kyoto Protocol since Novembr, 2005. The country of Belarus has a primary goal of ensuring that the country runs on renewable energy by declining its consumption of crude oil and coal.

In 2005 the Government of Belarus approved an action plan with UNFCCC that would last from 2005-2012, the program would implement programs that would be energy efficient while still working with a growing economy.

Some of the regulations in the frame work of the project includes, laws on environmental protection, law on energy conseravtion, second national communication to UNFCCC and more. {| class="wikitable sortable" style="margin:auto;" !Location !July (°C) !July (°F) !January (°C) !January (°F)
 * +Average daily maximum and minimum temperatures for the six largest cities in Belarus
 * Minsk || 23/14 || 74/57 || –2/−6 || 28/20
 * Gomel || 25/15 || 77/58 || −2/−7 || 28/19
 * Mogilev || 23/12 || 74/55 || –1/−6 || 30/21
 * Vitebsk || 23/13 || 74/56 || –3/−7 || 26/18
 * Grodno || 24/12 || 75/55 || –1/–6 || 30/21
 * Brest || 25/14 || 83/61 || –0/−5 || 31/23
 * Vitebsk || 23/13 || 74/56 || –3/−7 || 26/18
 * Grodno || 24/12 || 75/55 || –1/–6 || 30/21
 * Brest || 25/14 || 83/61 || –0/−5 || 31/23
 * Grodno || 24/12 || 75/55 || –1/–6 || 30/21
 * Brest || 25/14 || 83/61 || –0/−5 || 31/23
 * Brest || 25/14 || 83/61 || –0/−5 || 31/23