Kiribati Environment - 2024

Environment - current issues

heavy pollution in lagoon of south Tarawa atoll due to overcrowding mixed with traditional practices such as lagoon latrines and open-pit dumping; ground water at risk; potential for water shortages, disease; coastal erosion

Environment - international agreements

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping-London Convention, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling

signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Climate

tropical; marine, hot and humid, moderated by trade winds

Land use

agricultural land: 42% (2018 est.)

arable land: 2.5% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 39.5% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 0% (2018 est.)

forest: 15% (2018 est.)

other: 43% (2018 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 57.8% of total population (2023)

rate of urbanization: 2.77% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

Revenue from forest resources

0.04% of GDP (2018 est.)

Revenue from coal

0% of GDP (2018 est.)

Air pollutants

particulate matter emissions: 7.62 micrograms per cubic meter (2019 est.)

carbon dioxide emissions: 0.07 megatons (2016 est.)

methane emissions: 0.02 megatons (2020 est.)

Waste and recycling

municipal solid waste generated annually: 35,724 tons (2016 est.)

Total renewable water resources

0 cubic meters (2017 est.)