Geography of Honduras

Table of contents
1 Location:
2 Geographic coordinates:
3 Map references:
4 Area:
5 Land boundaries:
6 Coastline:
7 Climate:
8 Terrain:
9 Natural resources:
10 Land use:
11 Natural hazards:
12 Environment - current issues:
13 Environment - international agreements:

Location:

Middle America, bordering the Caribbean Sea, between Guatemala and Nicaragua and bordering the North Pacific Ocean, between El Salvador and Nicaragua

Geographic coordinates:

15 00 N, 86 30 W

Map references:

Central America and the Caribbean

Area:

Land boundaries:

  • total: 1,520 km
border countries:
  • Guatemala 256 km,
  • El Salvador 342 km,
  • Nicaragua 922 km

Coastline:

  • 820 km
  • Maritime claims:
    • contiguous zone: 24 nm
    • continental shelf: natural extension of territory or to 200 nm
    • exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
  • territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate:

subtropical in lowlands, temperate in mountains

Terrain:

mostly mountains in interior, narrow coastal plains

Elevation extremes:

  • lowest point: Caribbean Sea 0 m
  • highest point: Cerro Las Minas 2,870 m

Natural resources:

timber, gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, iron ore, antimony, coal, fish, hydropower

Land use:

  • arable land: 15%
  • permanent crops: 3%
  • permanent pastures: 14%
  • forests and woodland: 54%
  • other: 14% (1993 est.)
  • Irrigated land: 740 kmē (1993 est.)

Natural hazards:

frequent, but generally mild,
earthquakes; damaging hurricanes and floods along Caribbean coast

Environment - current issues:

urban population expanding; deforestation results from logging and the clearing of land for agricultural purposes; further land degradation and soil erosion hastened by uncontrolled development and improper land use practices such as farming of marginal lands; mining activities polluting Lago de Yojoa (the country's largest source of fresh water) as well as several rivers and streams with heavy metals; severe Hurricane Mitch damage

Environment - international agreements:

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol

See also : Honduras, List of places in Honduras