Mali

Location	interior Western Africa, southwest of Algeria, north of Guinea, Cote d'Ivoire, and Burkina Faso, west of Niger
Geographic coordinates	17 00 N, 4 00 W
Map references	Africa
Area	total: 1,240,192 sq km land: 1,220,190 sq km water: 20,002 sq km
Area - comparative	slightly less than twice the size of Texas
Land boundaries	total: 7,243 km border countries: Algeria 1,376 km, Burkina Faso 1,000 km, Guinea 858 km, Cote d'Ivoire 532 km, Mauritania 2,237 km, Niger 821 km, Senegal 419 km
Coastline	0 km (landlocked)
Maritime claims	none (landlocked)
Climate	subtropical to arid; hot and dry (February to June); rainy, humid, and mild (June to November); cool and dry (November to February)
Terrain	mostly flat to rolling northern plains covered by sand; savanna in south, rugged hills in northeast
Elevation extremes	lowest point: Senegal River 23 m highest point: Hombori Tondo 1,155 m
Natural resources	gold, phosphates, kaolin, salt, limestone, uranium, gypsum, granite, hydropower note: bauxite, iron ore, manganese, tin, and copper deposits are known but not exploited
Land use	arable land: 3.76% permanent crops: 0.03% other: 96.21% (2005)
Irrigated land	2,360 sq km (2003)
Total renewable water resources	100 cu km (2001)
Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural)	total: 6.55 cu km/yr (9%/1%/90%) per capita: 484 cu m/yr (2000)
Natural hazards	hot, dust-laden harmattan haze common during dry seasons; recurring droughts; occasional Niger River flooding
Environment - current issues	deforestation; soil erosion; desertification; inadequate supplies of potable water; poaching
Environment - international agreements	party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands, Whaling signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Geography - note	landlocked; divided into three natural zones: the southern, cultivated Sudanese; the central, semiarid Sahelian; and the northern, arid Saharan