English version - Convention on Biological Diversity

1.1.2 Geographical Location and Climate
Eritrea is located in the Horn of Africa between 12 0 22′ and 18 0 02′ North and between 36 0
26′ and 43 0 13′ East serving as a bridge between the rest of Africa and the Middle East and
the Gulf States. It is bordering with the Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, Djibouti
in the southeast and with the Red Sea in the east. Eritrea has a total land area of 124,300
km 2 with a coastline (mainland coastline) of 1900 km. along the important Red Sea oil and
shipping route connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Indian Ocean.
The Eritrean territorial waters are around 120,000 km 2 , stretching out to the Red Sea
Central Rift. There are around 390 islands in the Eritrean Red Sea zone, the prominent
being the Dahlak Archipelago.
The country exhibits a varied topography, rainfall and climate with altitude that ranges
from 60 meters below sea level to over 3,000 meters above sea level.
The climate of Eritrea ranges from hot and arid adjacent to the Red Sea to temperate in the
highlands and sub-humid in isolated micro-catchments area of eastern escarpment. Most
part of the country (70%) is classified as hot to very hot with mean annual temperature of
more than 27 o C; about (25%) as warm to mild with a mean temperature of about 22 o C,
and the remaining parts (5%) as cool with a mean annual temperature of less than 19 o C.
The total annual rainfall increases from the north to south and varies from less than 200
mm in the northwestern lowlands to more than 700 mm in the southwestern lowlands.
Besides, the amount of rainfall also increases with altitude. While the coastal lowlands are
very dry, some areas on the eastern escarpment get more than 1000 mm of rain. As to
areas covered by the different rainfall regimes, about 50% of the country receives less than
300 mm, 40% between 300 and 600 mm and about 10% more than 600 mm of rain per
annum (FAO 1994, Haile etal. 1998).
The agro ecological map (FAO 1997a) has six major agro ecological zones namely moist
lowland, arid lowland, semi-desert, moist highland, arid highland and sub humid (Figure-
1). The general characteristics of the agro ecological zones in terms of area, topography,
altitude and climate are given in Table 1.
2