A
Nuclear-Weapons-Free Zone, or
NWFZ is defined by the
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
as an agreement which a group of states has freely established by treaty or convention, that bans the use, development, or deployment of nuclear weapons in a given area, that has mechanisms of verification and control to enforce its obligations, and that is recognized as such by the General Assembly of the United Nations.
NWFZs do not cover
international watersThe terms international waters or trans-boundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed regional seas and estuaries, rivers, lakes, groundwater systems , and wetlands...
(where there is
freedom of the seasFreedom of the seas was one of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points proposed during the First World War. It stresses freedom to navigate the oceans. It also disapproved of war fought in water...
) or transit of nuclear missiles through space, as opposed to deployment that stations nuclear weapons in space.
The NWFZ definition does not count countries or smaller regions that have outlawed nuclear weapons simply by their own law, like
AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west...
with the Atomsperrgesetz in 1999; also, the 2+4 Treaty ending the
Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition existing after World War II , primarily between the USSR and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, including the United States...
banned nuclear weapons in the former East Germany, but was an agreement only among the four Allies and two German states.
NWFZs have a similar purpose to, but are distinct from, the
Nuclear Non-Proliferation TreatyThe Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, also Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is a treaty to limit the spread of nuclear weapons, opened for signature on July 1, 1968...
to which all countries except for four nuclear weapons states are party.
Today there are five zones covering continental or subcontinental groups of countries (including their territorial waters and airspace), one UN-recognized zone consisting of a single country, Mongolia, and three governing
Antarctica| style="border-top:solid 1px #ccd2d9; padding:0.4em 1em 0.4em 0; vertical-align:top;" | 14,000,000 km
2 280,000 km
2 13,720,000 km
2 |-! style="border-top: solid 1px #ccd2d9; padding: 0.4em 1em 0.4em 0; vertical-align: top;...
, the seabed, and outer space which are not part of any state.
A
Nuclear-Weapons-Free Zone, or
NWFZ is defined by the
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
as an agreement which a group of states has freely established by treaty or convention, that bans the use, development, or deployment of nuclear weapons in a given area, that has mechanisms of verification and control to enforce its obligations, and that is recognized as such by the General Assembly of the United Nations.
NWFZs do not cover
international watersThe terms international waters or trans-boundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed regional seas and estuaries, rivers, lakes, groundwater systems , and wetlands...
(where there is
freedom of the seasFreedom of the seas was one of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points proposed during the First World War. It stresses freedom to navigate the oceans. It also disapproved of war fought in water...
) or transit of nuclear missiles through space, as opposed to deployment that stations nuclear weapons in space.
The NWFZ definition does not count countries or smaller regions that have outlawed nuclear weapons simply by their own law, like
AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west...
with the Atomsperrgesetz in 1999; also, the 2+4 Treaty ending the
Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition existing after World War II , primarily between the USSR and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, including the United States...
banned nuclear weapons in the former East Germany, but was an agreement only among the four Allies and two German states.
NWFZs have a similar purpose to, but are distinct from, the
Nuclear Non-Proliferation TreatyThe Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, also Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is a treaty to limit the spread of nuclear weapons, opened for signature on July 1, 1968...
to which all countries except for four nuclear weapons states are party.
Coverage
| | States
# | Land area
106 km² | Pop |
|---|
| NWFZ |
116 |
84 |
33% |
| NWS |
9 |
41.4 |
48% |
NPT
only |
|68 |
24 |
19% |
Today there are five zones covering continental or subcontinental groups of countries (including their territorial waters and airspace), one UN-recognized zone consisting of a single country, Mongolia, and three governing
Antarctica| style="border-top:solid 1px #ccd2d9; padding:0.4em 1em 0.4em 0; vertical-align:top;" | 14,000,000 km
2 280,000 km
2 13,720,000 km
2 |-! style="border-top: solid 1px #ccd2d9; padding: 0.4em 1em 0.4em 0; vertical-align: top;...
, the seabed, and outer space which are not part of any state. The Antarctic, seabed, and space zones actually preceded most of the zones on national territories.
when the African zone came into force, the six land zones cover 56% of the Earth's land area of 149 million square kilometers (less of the Earth's
oceanAn ocean is a large body of saline water, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 75% of the Earth's surface is covered by ocean, a continuous body of water that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas.More than half of this area is over 3,000...
s above the seabed are covered since
freedom of the seasFreedom of the seas was one of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points proposed during the First World War. It stresses freedom to navigate the oceans. It also disapproved of war fought in water...
restricts restrictions in
international watersThe terms international waters or trans-boundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed regional seas and estuaries, rivers, lakes, groundwater systems , and wetlands...
) and 60% of
the 193 states on Earth, up from 34% and 30% the previous year; however only 1/3 of the world population lives in NWFZs, while the nine nuclear weapons states have 28% of world land area area and 48% of world population.
Nuclear weapons states' territories within NWFZs
| Treaty | Britain | France | U.S. |
|---|
| Tlatelolco The Treaty of Tlatelolco is the conventional name given to the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean...
|
AnguillaAnguilla is a British overseas territory in the Caribbean, one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles. It consists of the main island of Anguilla itself, approximately long by wide at its widest point, together with a number of much smaller islands and cays with no...
, Virgin IslandsThe British Virgin Islands is a British overseas territory, located in the Caribbean to the east of Puerto Rico. The islands make up part of the Virgin Islands archipelago, the remaining islands constituting the U.S. Virgin Islands...
Caymans, Turks & Caicos
Falklands, South Georgia
|
French Guiana French Guiana is an overseas department of France, located on the northern coast of South America. It has borders with two nations, Brazil and Suriname. Like the other DOMs, French Guiana is also an overseas region of France, one of the 26 regions of France. Its currency is the euro...
GuadeloupeGuadeloupe is an archipelago located in the eastern Caribbean Sea at , with a land area of 1,628 square kilometres . It is an overseas department of France. As with the other overseas departments, Guadeloupe is also one of the twenty-six regions of France and an integral part of the Republic...
, MartiniqueMartinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . It is an overseas department of France. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados. As with the other overseas departments, Martinique is also one of the twenty-six regions of...
St Barthélemy, St MartinSaint Martin is a tropical island in the northeast Caribbean, approximately 300 km east of Puerto Rico. The 87 km 2 island is divided roughly in half between France and the Netherlands Antilles ; it is the smallest inhabited sea island divided between two nations, a division...
|
Puerto RicoPuerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is a self-governing unincorporated territory of the United States located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of the Virgin Islands...
Virgin Islands
USMOI |
RarotongaThe Treaty of Rarotonga is the common name for the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty, which formalizes a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the South Pacific. The treaty bans the use, testing, and possession of nuclear weapons within the borders of the zone...
|
Pitcairn Island |
Fr. PolynesiaFrench Polynesia is a French overseas collectivity in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is made up of several groups of Polynesian islands, the most famous island being Tahiti in the Society Islands group, which is also the most populous island and the seat of the capital of the territory...
, New CaledoniaNew Caledonia , is a "sui generis collectivity" of France located in the region of Melanesia in the southwest Pacific. It comprises a main island , the Loyalty Islands, and several smaller islands...
Wallis & FutunaWallis and Futuna, officially the Territory of the Wallis and Futuna Islands , is a Polynesian French island territory in the South Pacific between Fiji and Samoa...
|
Am. SamoaAmerican Samoa is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the sovereign state of Samoa . The main island is Tutuila, with the Manua Islands, Rose Atoll, and Swains Island also included in the territory...
|
| Pelindaba |
Br. Indian Ocean TerritoryThe British Indian Ocean Territory or Chagos Islands is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom situated in the Indian Ocean, halfway between Africa and Indonesia...
|
Réunion Réunion is an island located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about south west of Mauritius, the nearest island.Administratively, Réunion is one of the overseas départements of France...
, MayotteMayotte , officially the Departmental Collectivity of Mayotte , is an overseas collectivity of France consisting of a main island, Grande-Terre , a smaller island, Petite-Terre , and several islets around these two.Mayotte is very densely populated...
, Îles ÉparsesThe Scattered Islands in the Indian Ocean consist of four small coral islands and an atoll in the Indian Ocean. They have no permanent population...
|
|
NWFZs do cover most territories belonging to nuclear weapons states that are situated inside NWFZ boundaries; all are small islands except for
French GuianaFrench Guiana is an overseas department of France, located on the northern coast of South America. It has borders with two nations, Brazil and Suriname. Like the other DOMs, French Guiana is also an overseas region of France, one of the 26 regions of France. Its currency is the euro...
.
However, the U.S. signed but has not ratified Protocol I to the Treaty of Rarotonga which would apply to
American SamoaAmerican Samoa is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the sovereign state of Samoa . The main island is Tutuila, with the Manua Islands, Rose Atoll, and Swains Island also included in the territory...
and the U.S. and Britain dispute the African NWFZ's applicability to
Diego GarciaDiego García is an island considered the largest atoll, in terms of land area, of the Chagos Archipelago, and is part of the British Indian Ocean Territories. The island is located in the Indian Ocean, about 1,600 km south of the southern coast of India...
which is an American military base.
There have been NWFZ proposals for other regions where there are few or no nuclear weapons states: the
Middle EastThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, southeastern Europe, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East...
(e.g. Nuclear program of Iran#Nuclear Free Zone in the Mideast), the
Korean PeninsulaThe Korean Peninsula is a peninsula in East Asia. It extends southwards for about 684 miles from continental Asia into the Pacific Ocean and is surrounded by the Sea of Japan on the east, the East China Sea to the south, and the Yellow Sea to the west, the Korea Strait connecting the first two...
,
Central EuropeCentral Europe is the region lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe. The term and widespread interest in the region itself came back into fashion after the end of the Cold War, which, along with the Iron Curtain, had divided Europe politically into East and West,...
,
South AsiaSouth Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries on the west and the east...
, and the
ArcticThe Arctic is the region around the Earth's North Pole, opposite the Antarctic region around the South Pole. The Arctic includes the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Greenland , Russia, the United States , Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland.The word Arctic comes from the Greek αρκτικός , "near...
.
Boundaries
The Antarctic, Latin American, and South Pacific zones are defined by lines of
latitudeLatitude, usually denoted by the Greek letter phi gives the location of a place on Earth north or south of the equator. Lines of Latitude are the imaginary horizontal lines shown running east-to-west on maps that run either north or south of the equator...
and
longitudeLongitude , identified by the Greek letter lambda , is the geographic coordinate most commonly used in cartography and global navigation for east-west measurement...
, except for the northwestern boundary of the South Pacific zone which follows the limit of Australian territorial waters, and these three zones form a contiguous area, though treaty provisions do not apply to
international watersThe terms international waters or trans-boundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed regional seas and estuaries, rivers, lakes, groundwater systems , and wetlands...
within that area.
In contrast, the Southeast Asian zone is defined as the territories of its members including their
Exclusive Economic ZoneUnder the law of the sea, an Exclusive Economic Zone is a seazone over which a state has special rights over the exploration and use of marine resources. It stretches from the edge of the state's territorial sea out to 200 nautical miles from its coast...
s, and the African zone is also defined as the countries and territories considered part of Africa by the OAU (now the
African UnionThe African Union is an intergovernmental organization consisting of 52 African states. Established on July 9 2002, the AU was formed as a successor to the Organization of African Unity...
) which include islands close to Africa and
MadagascarMadagascar, or Republic of Madagascar , is an island nation in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa. The main island, also called Madagascar, is the fourth-largest island in the world, and is home to 5% of the world's plant and animal species, of which more than 80% are endemic to...
. An AU member,
MauritiusMauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation off the coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar. In addition to the island of Mauritius, the Republic includes the islands of Cargados Carajos, Rodrigues and the Agalega Islands...
, claims the
British Indian Ocean TerritoryThe British Indian Ocean Territory or Chagos Islands is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom situated in the Indian Ocean, halfway between Africa and Indonesia...
where
Diego GarciaDiego García is an island considered the largest atoll, in terms of land area, of the Chagos Archipelago, and is part of the British Indian Ocean Territories. The island is located in the Indian Ocean, about 1,600 km south of the southern coast of India...
is currently a US
military baseA military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations.- Etymology :...
.
Southern Hemisphere
Because few
prevailing windsIn meteorology, prevailing winds are winds that blow predominantly from a single general direction over a particular point on the Earth's surface. The dominant winds are the trends in direction of wind with the highest speed over a particular point on the Earth's surface...
cross the Equator,
effects of nuclear explosionsThe energy released from a nuclear weapon detonated in the troposphere can be divided into four basic categories:*Blast—40-50% of total energy*Thermal radiation—30-50% of total energy*Ionizing radiation—5% of total energy...
in the
Northern HemisphereThe Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is north of the equator—the word hemisphere literally means 'half sphere'. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator...
might send less
falloutFallout or nuclear fallout is the residual radiation hazard from a nuclear explosion.Fallout may also refer to:*Fallout , a 1997 post-apocalyptic computer role-playing game released by Interplay Entertainment...
to the
Southern HemisphereThe Southern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is south of the equator—the word hemisphere literally means 'half ball'...
.
(This fact was used in the book and film
On the BeachOn the Beach is a post-apocalyptic end-of-the-world novel written by British-Australian author Nevil Shute after he had emigrated to Australia. It was published in 1957....
, although there the Southern Hemisphere eventually succumbs as well.)
Together the five southern NWFZs cover the
Southern HemisphereThe Southern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is south of the equator—the word hemisphere literally means 'half ball'...
except for the area north of the
60th parallel southThe 60th parallel south is a circle of latitude that is 60 degrees south of the Earth's equatorial plane. The latitudes below this parallel are often referred to as the Screaming 60's due to the prevailing, high-speed, westerly winds which can generate large waves in excess of 50 feet and peak wind...
, east of the
20th meridian westThe meridian 20° west of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, Greenland, Iceland, the Atlantic Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole....
, and west of the
115th meridian eastThe meridian 115° east of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, Asia, the Indian Ocean, Australasia, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole...
, but outside of African, Australian or Indonesian territorial waters.
There is less than 8000 km² of land in this area:
- Addu, the southernmost of the atolls of the Maldives
The Maldives are formed by a number of natural atolls plus a few islands and isolated reefs which form a pattern stretching from 7 degrees 10' North to 0 degrees 45' South....
- Chagos Islands (British Indian Ocean Territory
The British Indian Ocean Territory or Chagos Islands is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom situated in the Indian Ocean, halfway between Africa and Indonesia...
) including Diego GarciaDiego García is an island considered the largest atoll, in terms of land area, of the Chagos Archipelago, and is part of the British Indian Ocean Territories. The island is located in the Indian Ocean, about 1,600 km south of the southern coast of India...
(disputed by Mauritius)
- Kerguelen, Crozet
The Crozet Islands are a sub-antarctic archipelago of small islands in the southern Indian Ocean. They form one of the five administrative districts of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands.- Geography :...
, Saint PaulÎle Saint-Paul is an island forming part of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands in the Indian Ocean, with an area of 6 km² . It is located about southwest of the larger Île Amsterdam, and south of Réunion. During sailing ship days captains would occasionally use the island as a check on...
and Amsterdam Islands, some of the French Southern TerritoriesThe French Southern and Antarctic Lands , full name Territory of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands , consist of:...
in the southern Indian OceanThe Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by South Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean...
- St. Helena and its dependencies Ascension Island
Ascension Island is an isolated island of volcanic origin in the South Atlantic Ocean, around from the coast of Africa, and from the coast of South America. It is part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha which also includes Saint Helena, which is to...
and Tristan da CunhaTristan da Cunha is a remote volcanic group of islands in the south Atlantic Ocean. It is the most remote inhabited archipelago in the world, lying from the nearest land, South Africa, and from South America. It is part of the British overseas territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da...
, a British overseas territory in the South Atlantic
- Bouvet Island
Bouvet Island is an uninhabited Antarctic volcanic island in the South Atlantic Ocean, 2525 km south-southwest of South Africa. It is a dependent territory of Norway and is not subject to the Antarctic Treaty. It is the most remote island in the world....
, a Norwegian territory in the South Atlantic
In 1994 states of the
South Atlantic Peace and Cooperation ZoneThe South Atlantic Peace and Cooperation Zone was created in 1986 through a UN resolution on Brazil's initiative, with the aim of promoting regional cooperation and the maintenance of peace and security in the region...
issued a "Declaration on the Denuclearization of the South Atlantic" which the U.N. General Assembly endorsed but the U.S., U.K., and France still opposed.
Northern Hemisphere tropical lands not in a NWFZ
| Region | All of | Parts of |
|---|
| Pacific |
Marianas, FSMThe Federated States of Micronesia is an island nation located in the Pacific Ocean, north of New Guinea. It is a sovereign state in free association with the United States. The Federated States of Micronesia were formerly part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, a United Nations Trust...
, MarshallsThe Marshall Islands , officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands , is a Micronesian nation of atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International Date Line and just north of the Equator. This nation of roughly 62,000 people is located north of Nauru and...
, PalauPalau , officially the Republic of Palau , is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, some 500 miles east of the Philippines and 2,000 miles south of Tokyo. Having emerged from United Nations trusteeship in 1994, it is one of the world's youngest and smallest sovereign states...
|
HawaiiHawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states, and is the only state made up entirely of islands. It is located on an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of Australia. The state was admitted to the Union on August...
(all but NWThe Northwestern Hawaiian Islands or the Leeward Islands are the small islands and atolls in the Hawaiian island chain located northwest of the islands of Kauai and Niihau. They are administered by the U.S. state of Hawaii except Midway Atoll, which has temporary residential facilities and is...
), USMOIThe United States Minor Outlying Islands, a statistical designation defined by the International Organization for Standardization's ISO 3166-1 code, consists of eleven United States insular areas in the central Pacific Ocean....
|
| Arabia |
YemenYemen , officially the Republic of Yemen is a country located on the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia...
|
Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia , is an Arab country and the largest country of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Jordan on the northwest, Iraq on the north and northeast, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates on the east, Oman on the southeast, and Yemen on the south...
, UAE, and OmanOman , officially the Sultanate of Oman , is an Arab country in southwest Asia on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It borders the United Arab Emirates on the northwest, Saudi Arabia on the west and Yemen on the southwest....
|
South AsiaSouth Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries on the west and the east...
|
MaldivesThe Maldives , or Maldive Islands, officially Republic of Maldives, is an island country in the Indian Ocean formed by a double chain of twenty-six atolls stretching along north-south direction off India's Lakshadweep islands, between Minicoy Island and Chagos Archipelago...
, Sri LankaSri Lanka , officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka , is an island country in South Asia, located about off the southern coast of India...
|
Peninsular India, Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a country in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
|
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
|
Hainan Hainan is the smallest province of the People's Republic of China . Although the province comprises some two hundred islands scattered among three archipelagos off the southern coast, all but three percent of its land mass is on Hainan Island , from which the province takes its name...
|
YunnanYunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately 394,000 square kilometers . The capital of the province is Kunming...
, GuangdongGuangdong is a province on the southern coast of People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
/XiThis article is about a region of China. For the sociological concept, see Guānxi.Guangxi is a Zhuang autonomous region of the People's Republic of China....
, TaiwanTaiwan , also known as Formosa , is the largest island of the Republic of China in East Asia. Taiwan is located east of the Taiwan Strait, off the southeastern coast of mainland China...
|
Tropics
The Latin American, African, South Pacific and Southeast Asian zones also cover most land in the
tropicsThe tropics,the tropics are very hot. hi everyone! peace out!seated in the equatorial regions of the world, are limited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere at approximately 23°26' N latitude and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere at 23°26' S latitude...
, but not some
Northern HemisphereThe Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is north of the equator—the word hemisphere literally means 'half sphere'. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator...
areas south of the
Tropic of CancerThe Tropic of Cancer, or the Northern tropic, is one of five major degree measures or major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. It is the northmost latitude at which the sun can appear directly overhead at noon...
. Most of their land area is in
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
and the
Arabian PeninsulaThe Arabian Peninsula , Arabia, Arabistan, and the Arabian subcontinent is a peninsula in Southwest Asia at the junction of Africa and Asia...
.
Little of the land area covered by the five southern Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones extends north of the Tropic of Cancer: only northern
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, northern Bahamas, northern
MyanmarBurma, officially the Union of Myanmar, is the largest country by geographical area in mainland Southeast Asia or Indochina. The country is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest and the Bay of Bengal to the...
, and
North AfricaNorth Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa.Geopolitically, the UN definition of Northern Africa includes the following seven countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia,Mauritania, and...
. However, the Central Asian and Mongolian zones are entirely in the North Temperate Zone.
Nuclear power and programs
Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and South Africa, are the only countries in the zones using nuclear power for electricity, with two nuclear plants each. South Africa formerly had a
nuclear weapons programFrom the 1960s to the 1980s, South Africa pursued research into weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. Six nuclear weapons were assembled...
which it terminated in 1994.
Another term,
Nuclear-free zoneA nuclear-free zone is an area where nuclear weapons and/or nuclear power is banned. The specific ramifications of these depend on the locale in question....
, often means an area which has banned both nuclear power and nuclear weapons, and usually does not mean a UN-acknowledged international treaty.
External resources