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Geography and climate
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Belarus lies between latitudes 51° and 57° N, and longitudes 23° and 33° E. Its extension from north to south is 560 km (350 mi), from west to east is 650 km (400 mi).[1] It is landlocked, relatively flat, and contains large tracts of marshy land.[2] About 40% of Belarus is covered by forests.[3][4]
Many streams and 11,000 lakes are found in Belarus.[2] 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.[5]
The highest point is Dzyarzhynskaya Hara (Dzyarzhynsk Hill) at 345 metres (1,132 ft), and the lowest point is on the Neman River at 90 m (295 ft).[2] The average elevation of Belarus is 160 m (525 ft) above sea level.[6] The climate features mild to cold winters, with average January minimum temperatures ranges from −4 °C (24.8 °F) in southwest (Brest) to −8 °C (17.6 °F) in northeast (Vitebsk), and cool and moist summers with an average temperature of 18 °C (64.4 °F).[7] Belarus has an average annual rainfall of 550 to 700 mm (21.7 to 27.6 in).[7] The country is in the transitional zone between continental climates and maritime climates.[2]
Natural resources include peat deposits, small quantities of oil and natural gas, granite, dolomite (limestone), marl, chalk, sand, gravel, and clay.[2] 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.[8] 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.[9][10]
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.[11] Belarus and Lithuania ratified final border demarcation documents in February 2007.[12]
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. [13] 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. [14]
| Location | July (°C) | July (°F) | January (°C) | January (°F) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
- ^ "Coordinates of the extreme points of the state frontier. Main Geographic Characteristics of the Republic of Belarus". Land of Ancestors. the Scientific and Production State Republican Unitary Enterprise "National Cadastre Agency" of the State Property Committee of the Republic of Belarus. 2011. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
- ^ a b c d e "Belarus – Geography". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. 2007. Archived from the original on 14 November 2007. Retrieved 7 November 2007.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
key factswas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Belarus: Window of Opportunity (see Table 15, page 66)" (PDF). United Nations. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 October 2008. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
- ^ Bell, Imogen (2002). Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia 2003. Taylor & Francis. p. 132. ISBN 1-85743-137-5.
- ^ Zaprudnik 1993, p. xix
- ^ a b Fedor, Helen (1995). "Belarus – Climate". Belarus: A Country Study. Library of Congress. Retrieved 22 December 2007.
- ^ Rainsford, Sarah (26 April 2005). "Belarus cursed by Chernobyl". BBC News. Archived from the original on 24 April 2006. Retrieved 26 March 2006.
- ^ "The United Nations and Chernobyl – The Republic of Belarus". United Nations. 2004. Archived from the original on 6 May 2008. Retrieved 4 October 2007.
- ^ Smith, Marilyn. "Ecological reservation in Belarus fosters new approaches to soil remediation". International Atomic Energy Agency. Retrieved 19 December 2007.
- ^ Larissa Titarenko (2011). "Country Report: Belarus Borders: Borders and policy in Belarus". University of Eastern Finland. p. 14. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
- ^ "Lithuania's Cooperation with Belarus". Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 19 December 2007.
- ^ "Belarus: National Policy on Climate Change" (PDF). www.UN.org.
- ^ "Belarus: National Policy on Climate Change" (PDF).
- ^ "Belarus climate information". Weatherbase. Retrieved 2 February 2016.