Climate description: tropical; hot and humid in equatorial river basin; cooler and drier in southern highlands; cooler and wetter in eastern highlands; north of Equator - wet season (April to October), dry season (December to February); south of Equator - wet season (November to March), dry season (April to October)
Terrain description: vast central basin is a low-lying plateau; mountains in east
Arable Land Use: 2.9%
Permanent Crop Land Use: 0.32%
Irrigated Land: 105 sq km
Total Renewable Water Resources: 1,283 cu km
Total Freshwater Withdrawal: 0.68 cu km/yr
Per Person Freshwater Withdrawal: 11.25 cu m/yr
Natural Hazards description: periodic droughts in south; Congo River floods (seasonal); active volcanoes in the east along the Great Rift Valley. Volcanism: Nyiragongo (elev. 3,470 m), which erupted in 2002 and is experiencing ongoing activity, poses a major threat to the city of Goma, home to a quarter million people; the volcano produces unusually fast-moving lava, known to travel up to 100 km /hr; Nyiragongo has been deemed a Decade Volcano by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior, worthy of study due to its explosive history and close proximity to human populations; its neighbor, Nyamuragira, which erupted in 2010, is Africa's most active volcano; Visoke is the only other historically active volcano
Environmental Current Issues: poaching threatens wildlife populations; water pollution; deforestation; refugees responsible for significant deforestation, soil erosion, and wildlife poaching; mining of minerals (coltan - a mineral used in creating capacitors, diamonds, and gold) causing environmental damage