<item><hi format=bold>International disputes:</hi> short section of the boundary with Uruguay is in dispute; short section of the boundary with Chile is indefinite; claims British-administered Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas); claims British-administered South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands; territorial claim in Antarctica
<item><hi format=bold>Climate:</hi> mostly temperate; arid in southeast; subantarctic in southwest
<item><hi format=bold>Terrain:</hi> rich plains of the Pampas in northern half, flat to rolling plateau of Patagonia in south, rugged Andes along western border
<item><hi format=bold>Natural resources:</hi> fertile plains of the pampas, lead, zinc, tin, copper, iron ore, manganese, petroleum, uranium
<item><hi format=bold>Land use:</hi>
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<item>• <hi format=ital>arable land:</hi> 9%
<item>• <hi format=ital>permanent crops:</hi> 4%
<item>• <hi format=ital>meadows and pastures:</hi> 52%
<item>• <hi format=ital>forest and woodland:</hi> 22%
<item>• <hi format=ital>other:</hi> 13%
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<item><hi format=bold>Irrigated land:</hi> 17,600 sq km (1989 est.)
<item><hi format=bold>Environment:</hi>
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<item>• <hi format=ital>current issues:</hi> erosion results from inadequate flood controls and improper land use practices; irrigated soil degradation; desertification; air pollution in Buenos Aires and other major cites; water pollution in urban areas; rivers becoming polluted due to increased pesticide and fertilizer use
<item>• <hi format=ital>natural hazards:</hi> Tucuman and Mendoza areas in the Andes subject to earthquakes; pamperos are violent windstorms that can strike the Pampas and northeast; heavy flooding
<item>• <hi format=ital>international agreements:</hi> party to—Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Climate Change, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Whaling; signed, but not ratfied—Biodiversity, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation
</list>
<item><hi format=bold>Note:</hi> second-largest country in South America (after Brazil); strategic location relative to sea lanes between South Atlantic and South Pacific Oceans (Strait of Magellan, Beagle Channel, Drake Passage)