Eritrea Environment - 2024

Environment - current issues

deforestation; desertification; soil erosion; overgrazing

Environment - international agreements

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection, Whaling

signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Paris Agreement

Climate

hot, dry desert strip along Red Sea coast; cooler and wetter in the central highlands (up to 61 cm of rainfall annually, heaviest June to September); semiarid in western hills and lowlands

Land use

agricultural land: 75.1% (2018 est.)

arable land: 6.8% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 0% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 68.3% (2018 est.)

forest: 15.1% (2018 est.)

other: 9.8% (2018 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 43.3% of total population (2023)

rate of urbanization: 3.67% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

Air pollutants

particulate matter emissions: 22.74 micrograms per cubic meter (2019 est.)

carbon dioxide emissions: 0.71 megatons (2016 est.)

methane emissions: 4.48 megatons (2020 est.)

Waste and recycling

municipal solid waste generated annually: 726,957 tons (2011 est.)

Total water withdrawal

municipal: 30 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

industrial: 1 million cubic meters (2017 est.)

agricultural: 550 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

Total renewable water resources

7.32 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)