Jamaica

Country name: conventional long form: none
conventional short form: Jamaica

Capital:: Kingston
geographic coordinates: 18 00 N, 76 48 W
time difference: UTC-5 (same time as Washington, DC during Standard Time)

Government type: constitutional parliamentary democracy and a Commonwealth realm

Location	Caribbean, island in the Caribbean Sea, south of Cuba
Geographic coordinates	18 15 N, 77 30 W
Map references	Central America and the Caribbean
Area	total: 10,991 sq km land: 10,831 sq km water: 160 sq km
Area - comparative	slightly smaller than Connecticut
Land boundaries	0 km
Coastline	1,022 km
Maritime claims	measured from claimed archipelagic straight baselines territorial sea: 12 nm contiguous zone: 24 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm continental shelf: 200 nm or to edge of the continental margin
Climate	tropical; hot, humid; temperate interior
Terrain	mostly mountains, with narrow, discontinuous coastal plain
Elevation extremes	lowest point: Caribbean Sea 0 m highest point: Blue Mountain Peak 2,256 m
Natural resources	bauxite, gypsum, limestone
Land use	arable land: 15.83% permanent crops: 10.01% other: 74.16% (2005)
Irrigated land	250 sq km (2002)
Total renewable water resources	9.4 cu km (2000)
Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural)	total: 0.41 cu km/yr (34%/17%/49%) per capita: 155 cu m/yr (2000)
Natural hazards	hurricanes (especially July to November)
Environment - current issues	heavy rates of deforestation; coastal waters polluted by industrial waste, sewage, and oil spills; damage to coral reefs; air pollution in Kingston from vehicle emissions
Environment - international agreements	party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Geography - note	strategic location between Cayman Trench and Jamaica Channel, the main sea lanes for the Panama Canal