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REGIONAL LINKS DIRECTORY

 
 
 

Welcome to the GIN regional links directory.

The regional directory is categorised under nine major geographic regions. Each region contains a list of websites specifically relating to the chosen region.

All websites listed here have been individually chosen based on their quality of content and appropriateness to the specific region they represent. All links contained within this directory are regularly checked to ensure they are currently available and do not lead to broken or missing links. If you do happen to come across a broken link please let us know - email our webmaster describing the offending link and we promise to attend to it at our earliest opportunity.


 
  ANTARCTIC 

The world's coldest and most inaccessible region consists of an ice-covered continent, Antarctica, centred on the South Pole and surrounding this, the vast Southern Ocean, which is largely covered by floating pack ice. The Antarctic is much colder than the Arctic and its only inhabitants are visiting scientists. Various nations claim different parts of the Antarctic mainland. In 1959, twelve nations signed the Antarctic Treaty and agreed that Antarctica should be used for peaceful purposes only.
       

  ARCTIC 

The Arctic is an ocean more or less surrounded by land - just the opposite of the Antarctic, which is a huge land mass surrounded by water. The Arctic region generally refers to a rather large land area round the North Pole but the ocean is nearly five times as large as the Mediterranean and is covered with drifting ice which is sometimes 30m thick. Between Greenland and the Canadian mainland is Baffin Island, together with many smaller islands.
       

 
  BALTIC 

  Ars Baltica 
  B7 Baltic Islands Network 
  Baltic Assembly 
  Baltic Development Forum 
  Baltic Environmental Forum 
  Baltic Gateway 
  Baltic Green Belt 
  Baltic Heritage Cooperation 
  Baltic Institute of Finland 
  Baltic Local Agenda 21 Forum 
  Baltic Marine Environment Bibliography 
  Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (The Helsinki Commission) 
  Baltic Metropoles Network 
  Baltic Ports Organization 
  Baltic Region Healthy Cities Association 
  Baltic Sea 2020 Foundation 
  Baltic Sea Action Group 
  Baltic Sea Chambers of Commerce Association 
  Baltic Sea Experiment [BALTEX] 
  Baltic Sea Forum 
  Baltic Sea Heritage Co-operation 
  Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference 
  Baltic Sea Portal 
  Baltic Sea States Subregional Co-operation 
  Baltic Sea Tourism Commission 
  Baltic Sea Trade Union Network 
  Baltic University Programme 
  Clean Baltic Sea 
  Coalition Clean Baltic 
  Council of the Baltic Sea States 
  Euroregion Baltic 
  Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research 
  Nordic Archipelago Cooperation in the Baltic Sea 
  Nordic Environment Finance Corporation 
  Northern Dimension Partnership in Public Health and Social Wellbeing 
  Save Our Baltic Sea 
  Sustainable Coastal Zone Development in the Baltic Sea Region 
  UNEP GRID-Arendal [Baltic Resources] 
  Union of the Baltic Cities 
  Vision & Strategies around the Baltic Sea 2010 
       

  CARIBBEAN 

The Caribbean Sea is bounded by the West Indies, the east coast of Central America and the north coast of South America. It is nearly 2,400km long and from 650 to 1,100km wide. The many islands surrounding the Caribbean are really the peaks of mountains submerged beneath the sea. After the completion of the Panama Canal in 1914, this sea became one of the busiest waterways in the world, lying on the main route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
       

  INDIAN OCEAN 

This is the third largest ocean in the world - after the Pacific and Atlantic oceans - and covers an area of 73,555,715sq km. The Indian Ocean is bordered by Africa on the west, India on the north and Australia on the east, but to the south there is open sea as far as the Antarctic. The southern half of the Indian Ocean has no large islands except Madagascar. Those in the northern half include Sri Lanka and Socotra besides many smaller ones.
       

  MEDITERRANEAN 

The Mediterranean Sea is almost landlocked, being joined with the open Atlantic Ocean only by the narrow Strait of Gibraltar. It lies between Europe and Africa and is more than 3,220km long. The north side of the Mediterranean is broken up by the Adriatic and Aegean seas as well as by the peninsulas of Italy and Greece. Most of the islands are in the northern part of the sea. In 1869 the Suez Canal was opened, thus making the Mediterranean the shortest sea route between Europe and the East.
       

  NORTH ATLANTIC 

The northern half of the world's second largest ocean is rich in islands, varied coastline and tributary seas. On the west are the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Hudson Bay and Baffin Bay. To the east are the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. As well as purely oceanic islands there are those which rise from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, including the Azores. Other islands such as The Canaries and Madeira rise from Africa's continental margins.
       

  PACIFIC 

The Pacific is the largest and deepest of all the oceans with an area of 165 million square kilometres, an area greater than that of all the world's lands put together. At its greatest width the Pacific measures 17,220km. It extends from the Bering Straits of the Arctic Circle, to Cape Adare, Antarctica, a distance of 15,450km. There are very few islands in the eastern Pacific. Its northern and western borders are fringed with chains of islands including The Aleutians, The Kurils and the Ryukus. The Inner Pacific islands are divided into three main groups - Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia.
       

  SOUTHEAST ASIA 

Southeast Asia is the name for the peninsular area of the Asian continent that lies between India and China, and stretches south along a chain of islands towards Australia. The countries of mainland Southeast Asia are Malaysia, Burma, Vietnam, Laos, Kampuchea, Thailand and Singapore. Further south lies insular (island) Southeast Asia. This is made up of thousands of islands containing the countries of the Philippines, Brunei, Indonesia and East Timor.