Sao Tome and Principe Environment - 2024

Environment - current issues

deforestation and illegal logging; soil erosion and exhaustion; inadequate sewage treatment in cities; biodiversity preservation

Environment - international agreements

party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling

signed, but not ratified: Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban

Climate

tropical; hot, humid; one rainy season (October to May)

Land use

agricultural land: 50.7% (2018 est.)

arable land: 9.1% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 40.6% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 1% (2018 est.)

forest: 28.1% (2018 est.)

other: 21.2% (2018 est.)

Urbanization

urban population: 76.4% of total population (2023)

rate of urbanization: 2.96% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

Revenue from forest resources

1.9% of GDP (2018 est.)

Revenue from coal

0% of GDP (2018 est.)

Air pollutants

particulate matter emissions: 33.75 micrograms per cubic meter (2019 est.)

carbon dioxide emissions: 0.12 megatons (2016 est.)

methane emissions: 0.04 megatons (2020 est.)

Waste and recycling

municipal solid waste generated annually: 25,587 tons (2014 est.)

Total water withdrawal

municipal: 10 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

industrial: 600,000 cubic meters (2017 est.)

agricultural: 30 million cubic meters (2020 est.)

Total renewable water resources

2.18 billion cubic meters (2020 est.)