Sources: 1. National Land Area: data were compiled from FAO (FAOSTAT, 1998), CIA World Fact Book (2002), CARICOM Environment in Figures 2002, and the Global Maritime Boundaries Database (GMBD) (Veridian - MRJ Technology Solutions, 2002).

2. Caribbean drainage area was calculated at WRI, using watershed boundaries developed by the Reefs at Risk project. 3. Maritime Claims were derived at WRI using data from the Global Maritime Boundaries Database (GMBD) (Veridian - MRJ Technology Solutions, 2002). Maritime claims are a sum of the Territorial Sea, Contiguous Zone, Exclusive Economic Zone, and Fishing Zones claimed by a country (up to 200 nautical miles from the coastline), on the Caribbean and Atlantic side only.

4, 5. Shelf Area within national waters was derived at WRI. Shelf areas were defined based on a bathymetric data set developed at WRI from depth point data from the Danish Hydrologic Institute’s (DHI) CMAP data product, interpolated at 1-km resolution. Teritorial claim is based on Veridian-MRJ’s Global Maritime Database (2002).

6. Caribbean Coastline length was derived at WRI using World Vector Shoreline data as the base. For Central American countries, the Pacific coastline was excluded. Small islands with a perimeter of less than 3 km were excluded from the tally. Coastline measurements are scaledependent, and vary with the scale of the data source. This estimate uses a standardized 1:250,000 data set.

Notes: a. Guadeloupe includes the French islands of St. Martin and St. Barthelemy.

b. Netherlands Antilles North includes the islands of St. Maarten, St. Eustatius, and Saba.

c. Netherlands Antilles South includes the islands of Bonaire and Curacao.

d. For the US, only the coastline along the Gulf States (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida) was included. In addition, the maritime claim and shelf area estimates only inlcude areas adjacent to these Gulf states.

e. Includes the parts of Brazil, Guyana, Surinam, and Canada draining to the Caribbean.