Editing Geography of Peru (section)

== Statistics ==

Peru has a total land area of 1,285,220&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup> <ref>{{Cite web |title=Peru PE: Surface Area {{!}} Economic Indicators {{!}} CEIC |url=https://www.ceicdata.com/en/peru/land-use-protected-areas-and-national-wealth/pe-surface-area |access-date=2024-02-23 |website=www.ceicdata.com}}</ref> and a total water area of 5,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>. In terms of maritime area, the country claims a continental shelf of {{convert|200|nmi|km mi|1|abbr=on|lk=in}}, a territorial sea of {{convert|200|nmi|km mi|1|abbr=on}} and an ''[[Exclusive economic zone]]'' of {{convert|857,000|km2|mi2|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Brittany |first=Derrick |last2=Khalfallah |first2=Myriam |last3=Relano |first3=Veronica |last4=Zeller |first4=Dirk |last5=Pauly |first5=Daniel |date=2021-03-31 |title=Updating to 2018 the 1950- 2010 marine catch reconstructions of the Sea Around Us. Part II: The Americas and Asia-Pacific |url=https://open.library.ubc.ca/soa/cIRcle/collections/facultyresearchandpublications/52383/items/1.0396430 |journal=Fisheries Centre Research Reports |volume=28 |issue=6 |pages=270 |issn=1198-6727 |access-date=2023-12-27 |via=The University of British Columbia}}</ref> 

Only 3% of Peru's land is arable, with 0.5% being suitable for permanent crops. Permanent pastureland accounts for 21% of Peru's land use, and forests and woodland accounting for 66% of the landscape. Approximately 9.5% (1993 est.) of Peruvian land is attributed to population centers, coastal regions, and other space.

Natural hazards that Peru experiences include earthquakes, [[tsunami]]s, flooding, landslides, and mild volcanic activity. The geographic positioning of Peru adjacent to the adjoining Nazca and South American tectonic plates - converging in the Atacama trench off the Pacific coast - serves as the catalyst to many of Peru's natural hazards.

Peru's environmental issues include deforestation (some the result of [[illegal logging]]); [[overgrazing]] of the slopes of the coast and sierra leading to soil erosion; desertification; air pollution in Lima; pollution of rivers and coastal waters from municipal and mining wastes.

Peru is a party to the following international environmental agreements:<br>[[Antarctic Treaty]], [[Antarctic-Environmental Protocol]], [[Biodiversity]], [[United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change|Climate Change]], [[Desertification]], [[Endangered Species]], [[Hazardous Wastes]], [[Nuclear Test Ban]], [[Ozone Layer Protection]], [[Ship Pollution]], [[Tropical Timber 83]], [[Tropical Timber 94]], [[Wetlands]], [[Whaling]]. Furthermore, the country has signed, but not ratified, the Climate Change-[[Kyoto Protocol]].

Peru shares control of [[Lake Titicaca]], world's highest navigable lake, with Bolivia.<ref>{{cite book |last1=McCaffrey |first1=Stephen C. |last2=Leb |first2=Christina |last3=T.Denoon |first3=Riley |title=Research Handbook on International Water Law |publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing |isbn=978-1-78536-808-0 |page=494 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CQyEDwAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref>