!!!Latvia: Geography ||Location|Eastern Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea, between Estonia and Lithuania ||Geographic Coordinates|57 00 N, 25 00 E[{GoogleMap location='57.0,25.0' zoom='4'}] ||Area |''total: ''64,589 sq km\\''land: ''62,249 sq km\\''water: ''2,340 sq km\\[[__''Verified in 8 databases''__] ||Land boundaries|''total: ''1,382 km\\''border countries: ''Belarus 171 km, Estonia 343 km, Lithuania 576 km, Russia 292 km ||Coastline|498 km ||Elevation Extremes|''lowest point: ''Baltic Sea 0 m\\''highest point: ''Gaizina Kalns 312 m ||Highest Mountains| ||Terrain|low plain ||Natural Hazards|NA ||Natural Resource|peat, limestone, dolomite, amber, hydropower, timber, arable land ||Land Use|''arable land: ''17.96%\\''permanent crops: ''0.11%\\''other: ''81.93% (2011) ||Climate|maritime; wet, moderate winters ||Irrigated Land|8.3 sq km note: land in Latvia is often too wet and in need of drainage not irrigation; approximately 16,000 sq km or 85% of agricultural land has been improved by drainage (2007) ||Renewable Water Resources|35.45 cu km (2011) ||Environment_CurrentIssues|Latvia's environment has benefited from a shift to service industries after the country regained independence; the main environmental priorities are improvement of drinking water quality and sewage system, household, and hazardous waste management, as well as reduction of air pollution; in 2001, Latvia closed the EU accession negotiation chapter on environment committing to full enforcement of EU environmental directives by 2010 ||Environment - international agreements|''party to: ''Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands\\''signed, but not ratified: ''none of the selected agreements ||Large Cities|__Due to difference in city rankings taken from two data sources we are listing here both lists :__\\According to [Wolfram|http://www.wolframalpha.com]: Riga; Daugavpils; Liepaja; Jelgava; Jurmala\\According to [Geonames|http://www.geonames.org]: Riga; Daugavpils; Vec-Liepaja; Liepaja; Jelgava\\\\\__Attempted Explanation:__ Please help us to try to explain the discrepancies by sending us helpful information to [office@global-geography.org|mailto:office@global-geography.org] \\[Important Cities|Geography/Europe/Latvia/Geography/Important_Cities] ||Geography-note|most of the country is composed of fertile low-lying plains with some hills in the east