s:Communications

Telephone system: NA telephones
local: NA
intercity: NA
international: linked by telephone, telex, and facsimile
communications via satellite with Australia

Radio:
broadcast stations: AM 1, FM 0, shortwave 0
radios: 250 (1985)

Television:
broadcast stations: 0
televisions: NA

@Cocos (keeling) Islands:Defense Forces

Note: defense is the responsibility of Australia

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COLOMBIA

@Colombia:Geography

Location: Northern South America, bordering the Caribbean Sea, between
Panama and Venezuela, and bordering the North Pacific Ocean, between
Ecuador and Panama

Map references: South America

Area:
total area: 1,138,910 sq km
land area: 1,038,700 sq km
comparative area: slightly less than three times the size of Montana
note: includes Isla de Malpelo, Roncador Cay, Serrana Bank, and
Serranilla Bank

Land boundaries: total 7,408 km, Brazil 1,643 km, Ecuador 590 km,
Panama 225 km, Peru 2,900 km, Venezuela 2,050 km

Coastline: 3,208 km (Caribbean Sea 1,760 km, North Pacific Ocean 1,448
km)

Maritime claims:
continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 12 nm

International disputes: maritime boundary dispute with Venezuela in
the Gulf of Venezuela; territorial dispute with Nicaragua over
Archipelago de San Andres y Providencia and Quita Sueno Bank

Climate: tropical along coast and eastern plains; cooler in highlands

Terrain: flat coastal lowlands, central highlands, high Andes
Mountains, eastern lowland plains

Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, coal, iron ore, nickel,
gold, copper, emeralds

Land use:
arable land: 4%
permanent crops: 2%
meadows and pastures: 29%
forest and woodland: 49%
other: 16%

Irrigated land: 5,150 sq km (1989 est.)

Environment:
current issues: deforestation; soil damage from overuse of pesticides;
air pollution, especially in Bogota, from vehicle emissions
natural hazards: highlands subject to volcanic eruptions; occasional
earthquakes; periodic droughts
international agreements: party to - Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity,
Endangered Species, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone
Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83; signed, but not
ratified - Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Climate Change,
Desertification, Hazard