Ecuador

Location	Western South America, bordering the Pacific Ocean at the Equator, between Colombia and Peru
Geographic coordinates	2 00 S, 77 30 W
Map references	South America
Area	total: 283,561 sq km land: 276,841 sq km water: 6,720 sq km note: includes Galapagos Islands
Area - comparative	slightly smaller than Nevada
Land boundaries	total: 2,010 km border countries: Colombia 590 km, Peru 1,420 km
Coastline	2,237 km
Maritime claims	territorial sea: 200 nm continental shelf: 100 nm from 2,500-m isobath
Climate	tropical along coast, becoming cooler inland at higher elevations; tropical in Amazonian jungle lowlands
Terrain	coastal plain (costa), inter-Andean central highlands (sierra), and flat to rolling eastern jungle (oriente)
Elevation extremes	lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m highest point: Chimborazo 6,267 m note: due to the fact that the earth is not a perfect sphere and has an equatorial bulge, the highest point on the planet furthest from its center is Mount Chimborazo not Mount Everest, which is merely the highest peak above sea-level
Natural resources	petroleum, fish, timber, hydropower
Land use	arable land: 5.71% permanent crops: 4.81% other: 89.48% (2005)
Irrigated land	8,650 sq km (2003)
Total renewable water resources	432 cu km (2000)
Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural)	total: 16.98 cu km/yr (12%/5%/82%) per capita: 1,283 cu m/yr (2000)
Natural hazards	frequent earthquakes; landslides; volcanic activity; floods; periodic droughts volcanism: volcanic activity concentrated along the Andes Mountains; Sangay (elev. 5,230 m), which erupted in 2010, is mainland Ecuador's most active volcano; other historically active volcanoes in the Andes include Antisana, Cayambe, Chacana, Cotopaxi, Guagua Pichincha, Reventador, Sumaco, and Tungurahua; Fernandina (elev. 1,476 m), a shield volcano that last erupted in 2009, is the most active of the many Galapagos volcanoes; other historically active Galapagos volcanoes include Wolf, Sierra Negra, Cerro Azul, Pinta, Marchena, and Santiago
Environment - current issues	deforestation; soil erosion; desertification; water pollution; pollution from oil production wastes in ecologically sensitive areas of the Amazon Basin and Galapagos Islands
Environment - international agreements	party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Geography - note	Cotopaxi in Andes is highest active volcano in world