{{Infobox country geography
| name = Botswana
| map = 250px240px
| map size = 250px
| continent = Africa
| region = Southern Africa
| coordinates =
| area ranking = 48th
| km area = 581730
| percent land = 97.42
| percent water = 2.58
| borders = Total land borders: Namibia: South Africa: Zambia: Zimbabwe:
| highest point = Monalanong Hill
| lowest point = Junction of the Limpopo and Shashe Rivers
| longest river =
| largest lake =
}}
thumb|Gweta, Botswana
Botswana is a landlocked country located in Southern Africa, north of South Africa. Botswana occupies an area of , of which are land. Botswana has land boundaries of combined length , of which the constituent boundaries are shared with Namibia, for ; South Africa ; Zimbabwe, and Zambia, . Much of the population of Botswana is concentrated in the eastern part of the country.
Sunshine totals are high all year round although winter is the sunniest period. The whole country is windy and dusty during the dry season.General Survey of Climatology, Landsberg (ed.), Elsevier, 2001.
Area data
Area
Total: 581,730 km²
country rank in the world: 48th
Land: 566,730 km²
Water: 15,000 km²
Area comparative
Australia comparative: approximately the size of New South Wales
Canada comparative: approximately smaller than Saskatchewan
United Kingdom comparative: approximately 2 times the size of the United Kingdom
United States comparative: slightly less than twice the size of Arizona
EU comparative: slightly larger than Metropolitan France
Geography
The land is predominantly flat to gently undulating tableland, although there is some hilly country, where mining is carried out. The Kalahari Desert is in the central and the southwest. The Okavango Delta, one of the world's largest inland deltas, is in the northwest and the Makgadikgadi Pans, a large salt pan lies in the north-central area. The Makgadikgadi has been established as an early habitation area for primitive man; This large seasonal wetland is composed of several large component pans, the largest being Nwetwe Pan, Sua Pan and Nxai Pan.C. Michael Hogan (2008) Makgadikgadi, Megalithic Portal, ed. A.Burnham Botswana's lowest elevation point is at the junction of the Limpopo and Shashe Rivers, at a height of . The highest point is Monalanong Hill, at .
The country is divided into four drainage regions, which are sometimes indistinct due to the arid nature of the climate:
- the Chobe River on the border with the Caprivi Strip of Namibia together with a small adjacent swampy area is part of the Zambezi basin;
- most of the north and central region of the country is part of the Okavango inland drainage basin;
- the easternmost part of the country falls into the Limpopo drainage basin;
- the southern and southwestern regions, which are the driest of all, are drained by the Molopo river along the South African border and the Nossob river through the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, and are technically part of the basin of the Orange River. None of these rivers normally flows as far as the Orange, however. (The last recorded confluence was in the 1880s.)Times Comprehensive Atlas, (2007), Times Books, London
Except for the Chobe, Okavango, Boteti and Limpopo rivers, most of Botswana's rivers cease to flow during the dry and early rainy seasons.
In Botswana forest cover is around 27% of the total land area, equivalent to 15,254,700 hectares (ha) of forest in 2020, down from 18,803,700 hectares (ha) in 1990. In 2020, naturally regenerating forest covered 15,254,700 hectares, of the naturally regenerating forest 0% was reported to be primary forest (consisting of native tree species with no clearly visible indications of human activity) and around 11% of the forest area was found within protected areas. For the year 2015, 24% of the forest area was reported to be under public ownership and 76% private ownership.
Climate
Botswana is semi-arid, due to the short rain season. However, the relatively high altitude of the country and its continental situation gives it a subtropical climate. The country is remote from moisture-laden air flows for most of the year. The dry season lasts from April to October in the south and to November in the north where rainfall totals are higher. The south of the country is most exposed to cold winds during the winter period (early May to late August) when average temperatures are around . The whole country has hot summers with average temperatures around . Sunshine totals are high all year round although winter is the sunniest period. The whole country is windy and dusty during the dry season.<gallery widths="170" heights="140" class="center">
File:Koppen-Geiger_Map_v2_BWA_1991–2020.svg|alt=|Botswana map of Köppen climate classification zones
File:Botswana sat.png|alt=|Satellite image of Botswana
File:Botswana Topography.png|alt=|Elevation map of Botswana
</gallery>{{Weather box
| collapsed =
| location = Gaborone (Sir Seretse Khama Airport, 1981–2010)
| metric first = yes
| single line = yes
| Jan record high F = 103
| Feb record high F = 104
| Mar record high F = 102
| Apr record high F = 98
| May record high F = 91
| Jun record high F = 84
| Jul record high F = 83
| Aug record high F = 91
| Sep record high F = 103
| Oct record high F = 100
| Nov record high F = 104
| Dec record high F = 103
| year record high F = 104
| Jan high C = 32.7
| Feb high C = 32.1
| Mar high C = 30.8
| Apr high C = 28.4
| May high C = 25.6
| Jun high C = 23.1
| Jul high C = 22.9
| Aug high C = 26.2
| Sep high C = 30.0
| Oct high C = 32.0
| Nov high C = 32.3
| Dec high C = 32.5
| year high C = 29.1
| Jan mean C = 25.7
| Feb mean C = 25.2
| Mar mean C = 23.7
| Apr mean C = 20.6
| May mean C = 16.8
| Jun mean C = 13.7
| Jul mean C = 13.5
| Aug mean C = 16.9
| Sep mean C = 21.2
| Oct mean C = 24.0
| Nov mean C = 24.7
| Dec mean C = 25.3
| year mean C = 20.9
| Jan low C = 19.7
| Feb low C = 19.3
| Mar low C = 17.4
| Apr low C = 13.5
| May low C = 8.3
| Jun low C = 5.0
| Jul low C = 4.4
| Aug low C = 7.5
| Sep low C = 12.3
| Oct low C = 16.3
| Nov low C = 17.7
| Dec low C = 18.8
| year low C = 13.4
| Jan record low F = 57
| Feb record low F = 55
| Mar record low F = 52
| Apr record low F = 32
| May record low F = 30
| Jun record low F = 30
| Jul record low F = 28
| Aug record low F = 32
| Sep record low F = 41
| Oct record low F = 45
| Nov record low F = 46
| Dec record low F = 52
| year record low F = 28
| precipitation colour =
| Jan precipitation mm = 143
| Feb precipitation mm = 82
| Mar precipitation mm = 74
| Apr precipitation mm = 30
| May precipitation mm = 8.3
| Jun precipitation mm = 7.5
| Jul precipitation mm = 1
| Aug precipitation mm = 0.9
| Sep precipitation mm = 5.8
| Oct precipitation mm = 5.8
| Nov precipitation mm = 58
| Dec precipitation mm = 71
| year precipitation mm =
| Jan precipitation days = 6
| Feb precipitation days = 5
| Mar precipitation days = 5
| Apr precipitation days = 3
| May precipitation days = 2
| Jun precipitation days = 1
| Jul precipitation days = 1
| Aug precipitation days = 1
| Sep precipitation days = 2
| Oct precipitation days = 4
| Nov precipitation days = 5
| Dec precipitation days = 6
| year precipitation days = 41
| source 1 = African Regional Climate Centre<ref name=ARCC>
{{cite web
|url = http://acmad.net/rcc/African-RCC/rcc_country_selection.php
|title = Precipitation and temperature reference climatologies: Seretse Khama International Airport
|publisher = African Regional Climate Centre
|access-date = 19 January 2016
|url-status = live
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160314035305/http://acmad.net/rcc/African-RCC/rcc_country_selection.php
|archive-date = 14 March 2016
}}</ref>
| source 2 = Weatherbase (records)
| date = June 2012
}}
Natural hazards
Botswana is affected by periodic droughts, and seasonal August winds blow from the west, carrying sand and dust, which can obscure visibility.
Environment
thumb|Rain clouds over Serowe January 2019Current environmental issues in Botswana are overgrazing, desertification and the existence of only limited fresh water resources.
Research from scientists has found that the common practice of overstocking cattle to cope with drought losses actually depletes scarce biomass, making ecosystems more vulnerable. The study of the district predicts that by 2050 the cycle of mild drought is likely to become shorter —18 months instead of two years—due to climate change.Sub-Saharan Africa news in brief: 10–22 April 2008 – SciDev.Net
Tree cover extent and loss
Global Forest Watch publishes annual estimates of tree cover loss and 2000 tree cover extent derived from time-series analysis of Landsat satellite imagery in the Global Forest Change dataset.<ref name="GFWBWAdashboard">{{cite web
|title=Botswana Deforestation Rates & Statistics
|website=Global Forest Watch
|url=https://www.globalforestwatch.org/dashboards/country/BWA/
}}</ref><ref name="HansenEtAl2013">{{cite journal
|last1=Hansen
|first1=Matthew C.
|last2=Potapov
|first2=Peter V.
|last3=Moore
|first3=Rebecca
|last4=Hancher
|first4=Matt
|last5=Turubanova
|first5=Svetlana A.
|last6=Tyukavina
|first6=Alexandra
|display-authors=3
|title=High-Resolution Global Maps of 21st-Century Forest Cover Change
|journal=Science
|volume=342
|issue=6160
|year=2013
|pages=850-853
|doi=10.1126/science.1244693
}}</ref><ref name="GFWTCLossAbout">{{cite web
|title=Tree cover loss
|website=Global Forest Watch Open Data Portal
|url=https://data.globalforestwatch.org/documents/gfw::tree-cover-loss/about
}}</ref><ref name="GFWTCCover2000About">{{cite web
|title=Tree cover (2000)
|website=Global Forest Watch Open Data Portal
|url=https://data.globalforestwatch.org/documents/gfw::tree-cover-2000/about
}}</ref> In this framework, tree cover refers to vegetation taller than 5 m (including natural forests and tree plantations), and tree cover loss is defined as the complete removal of tree cover canopy for a given year, regardless of cause.<ref name="GFRTreeCoverLoss2023">{{cite web
|title=How much forest was lost in 2023?
|website=Global Forest Review
|url=https://gfr.wri.org/global-tree-cover-loss-data-2023
}}</ref>
For Botswana, country statistics report cumulative tree cover loss of from 2001 to 2024 (about 2.5% of its 2000 tree cover area). For tree cover density greater than 30%, country statistics report a 2000 tree cover extent of . The charts and table below display this data. In simple terms, the annual loss number is the area where tree cover disappeared in that year, and the extent number shows what remains of the 2000 tree cover baseline after subtracting cumulative loss. Forest regrowth is not included in the dataset.
{{ChartDirect
|type=bar
|align=center
|width=100%
|x=2001,2002,2003,2004,2005,2006,2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013,2014,2015,2016,2017,2018,2019,2020,2021,2022,2023,2024
|xType=integer
|y1=1.31,0.23,0.08,0.51,0.49,0.40,0.34,0.27,0.41,0.30,0.21,0.16,0.14,0.15,0.00,0.01,0.01,0.02,0.00,0.02,0.01,0.02,0.02,0.01
|y1Title=Annual tree cover loss (km²)
|caption=Annual tree cover loss in Botswana, 2001–2024.
}}
{{ChartDirect
|type=line
|align=center
|width=100%
|x=2001,2002,2003,2004,2005,2006,2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012,2013,2014,2015,2016,2017,2018,2019,2020,2021,2022,2023,2024
|xType=integer
|y1=201.97,201.74,201.66,201.15,200.66,200.26,199.92,199.65,199.24,198.94,198.73,198.57,198.43,198.28,198.28,198.27,198.26,198.24,198.24,198.22,198.21,198.19,198.17,198.16
|y1Title=Extent minus cumulative loss (km²)
|caption=Tree cover extent in 2000 minus cumulative tree cover loss in Botswana, 2001–2024 (loss-only residual; does not account for gain).
}}
{| class="wikitable sortable collapsible collapsed" style="text-align:right;"
|+ Annual tree cover extent and loss
! Year
! Tree cover extent (km2)
! Annual tree cover loss (km2)
|-
| 2001 || 201.97 || 1.31
|-
| 2002 || 201.74 || 0.23
|-
| 2003 || 201.66 || 0.08
|-
| 2004 || 201.15 || 0.51
|-
| 2005 || 200.66 || 0.49
|-
| 2006 || 200.26 || 0.40
|-
| 2007 || 199.92 || 0.34
|-
| 2008 || 199.65 || 0.27
|-
| 2009 || 199.24 || 0.41
|-
| 2010 || 198.94 || 0.30
|-
| 2011 || 198.73 || 0.21
|-
| 2012 || 198.57 || 0.16
|-
| 2013 || 198.43 || 0.14
|-
| 2014 || 198.28 || 0.15
|-
| 2015 || 198.28 || 0.00
|-
| 2016 || 198.27 || 0.01
|-
| 2017 || 198.26 || 0.01
|-
| 2018 || 198.24 || 0.02
|-
| 2019 || 198.24 || 0.00
|-
| 2020 || 198.22 || 0.02
|-
| 2021 || 198.21 || 0.01
|-
| 2022 || 198.19 || 0.02
|-
| 2023 || 198.17 || 0.02
|-
| 2024 || 198.16 || 0.01
|}
International agreements
Botswana is a party to the following international agreements: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Organization, Ozone Layer Protection and Wetlands.
Extreme points
This is a list of the extreme points of Botswana, the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location.
- Northernmost point – the border with Zambia upon the Zambezi River at Chobe District
- Easternmost point – the tripoint with South Africa and Zimbabwe, Central District
- Southernmost point – Bokspits, Kgalagadi District
- Westernmost point – the western section of the border with Namibia*
- note: Botswana does not have a westernmost point as the western section is formed by the 22nd meridian of longitude east of Greenwich.