Geography of Timor-Leste

File:EastTimor2022OSM.png

Detailed map of Timor-Leste

Timor-Leste includes the mountainous eastern half of Timor, the Ocussi-Ambeno region on the northwest portion of the island of Timor, and the islands of Atauro and Jaco. The country is located northwest of Australia in the Lesser Sunda Islands at the eastern end of the Indonesian Archipelago. 'Timor' is a Portuguese derivation of 'Timor', the Malay word for "Orient"; the island of Timor is part of the Malay Archipelago and is the largest and easternmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. Timor-Leste is the only Asian nation to lie entirely within the Southern Hemisphere. The Loes River is the longest with a length of . This river system covers an area of . It is a small country with a land size of . The exclusive economic zone is .

Statistics

Area

• Total:
  • country rank in the world: 154th
• Land:
• Water: 0 km²

Area comparative

• Australia comparative: slightly less than Template:Sfrac the size of Tasmania
• Canada comparative: slightly more than Template:Sfrac the size of Nova Scotia
• United Kingdom comparative: slightly larger than Northern Ireland
• United States comparative: slightly larger than Connecticut
• European Union comparative: slightly less than Template:Sfrac the size of Belgium

Land boundaries

• Total:
• Border countries: Indonesia ()

Coastline

Maritime claims

• Territorial sea:
• Contiguous zone:
• Exclusive economic zone: and

Elevation extremes

• Lowest point: Timor Sea, Savu Sea, and Banda Sea 0 m
• Highest point: Tatamailau ()

Natural resources

Gold, petroleum, natural gas, manganese, marble

Land use

• Arable land: 10.1%
• Permanent crops: 4.9%
• Permanent pasture: 10.1%
• Forest: 49.1%
• Other: 25.8% (2011)

Irrigated land

(2003)

Climate

The islands have a tropical savanna climate, bordering on a tropical monsoon climate; hot and humid with distinct rainy and dry seasons. Tropical cyclones do occur along with floods.

Environment

Natural hazards

Landslides are common; earthquakes; and tsunamis.

Environment - current issues

Widespread use of slash and burn agriculture has led to deforestation and soil erosion.

Environment - international agreements

Biodiversity, climate change, climate change-Kyoto Protocol, desertification

Fauna

File:Corl0276 (27662045260).jpg

Timor-Leste Coral Reef

Timor-Leste's fauna is diverse and contains a number of endemic and threatened species. The Timor and Wetar deciduous forests region, which covers the entire island, has 38 mammal species. Timor-Leste's two endemic mammal species are the Timor shrew and the Timorese horseshoe bat. The country's and region's largest mammal, the Javan rusa, and its only native marsupial, the Northern common cuscus, are both believed to have been introduced to the island in prehistoric times by settlers from the Lesser Sunda Islands and New Guinea, respectively. Other mammals found in Timor-Leste include the Crab-eating macaque, a large number of species of bats, and the aquatic mammal, the Dugong. Timor-Leste also has its own native horse breed, the Timor pony.

Timor-Leste's terrestrial biodiversity is most visible in its native bird species. As of 2022, a total of 289 bird species are found in Timor-Leste. Significantly threatened bird species include the endangered Timor green pigeon and Wetar ground dove and the critically endangered Yellow-crested cockatoo. Timor-Leste has an endemic subspecies of the Iris lorikeet, S. i. rubripileum.

Along with the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Australia, Timor-Leste is one of the countries located in the Coral Triangle, the site of the most biodiverse coral reefs in the world. In particular, Atauro Island's coral reefs have been recognised as having the highest average fish biodiversity of any site surveyed, with reef sites off Atauro carrying an average of 253 different species. The highest number of species recorded from a single site in Timor-Leste was 642 different fish species, ranking second out of surveyed sites after Indonesia's Raja Ampat Islands.

Additionally, the reefs appeared to have suffered limited damage from coral bleaching and rising ocean temperatures compared to other sites in the Coral Triangle. However, despite being in relatively pristine condition, the reefs remain threatened by climate change and habitat destruction, especially blast fishing. It is believed that this has most affected large marine species such as sharks; despite the diversity of the reefs, there were a significant lack of sharks recorded in the surveys of 2016.

Timor-Leste's isolation and lack of tourism are believed to have helped preserve the reefs, as opposed to tourist-heavy locales such as Bali, where the abundance of tourism has negatively affected the health of the reefs. The Timorese government and local residents of Atauro have made attempts to preserve the reefs through education of local citizens, rejecting harmful development projects, and placing emphasis on traditional laws of preserving nature, called Tara Bandu.

References

• Much of the material in this article is adapted from the CIA World Factbook 2000 and 2012.