| Geography and Climate |
Wallis and Futuna Islands are located in Oceania, these are islands in the South Pacific Ocean, about two-thirds of the way from Hawaii to New Zealand. Area comparatively 1.5 times the size of Washington, DC.
Climate is tropical; hot, rainy season (November to April); cool, dry season (May to October); rains 2,500-3,000 mm per year (80% humidity); average temperature 26.6 degrees C. Terrain consists of volcanic in origin; low hills. Elevation extreme has the lowest point in Pacific Ocean 0 m and highest point in Mount Singavi 765 m. Land use: arable land: 5%, permanent crops: 20%, permanent pastures: NA%, forests and woodland: NA%, other: 75% (1993 est.).
Environment—current issues: deforestation (only small portions of the original forests remain) largely as a result of the continued use of wood as the main fuel source; as a consequence of cutting down the forests, the mountainous terrain of Futuna is particularly prone to erosion; there are no permanent settlements on Alofi because of the lack of natural fresh water resources.
Geography—note: both island groups have fringing reefs.
Ref. Anonymous, 1999 |