The Turkmenistan is located on the Eastern side of the Caspian Sea. The country's natural borders are the Amudarya River (former Oxus) in the East and Northeast, the Kopetdag and Parapimize mountains, which form a formidable 1,500 Km natural border with Iran in the South, and further East with Afghanistan, and the Caspian Sea in the West.
Sand deserts of the Turan, Zaunguz and Karakum (Black Sands), which in total cover 80% of the territory, cover the northern and central areas. The mountains occupy less than 10% of the territory including the foothills of the Kopetdag, Khurasan, Gissar, and the Parapamiz range. The Amudarya, Murgab, Tedzhen, Sumbar, Chandyr, and Atrek are the precious few water courses forming river valleys and oases presenting tugai ecosystem complexes.

Sand deserts of the Turan, Zaunguz and Karakum (Black Sands), which in total cover 80% of the territory, cover the northern and central areas. The mountains occupy less than 10% of the territory including the foothills of the Kopetdag, Khurasan, Gissar, and the Parapamiz range. The Amudarya, Murgab, Tedzhen, Sumbar, Chandyr, and Atrek are the precious few water courses forming river valleys and oases presenting tugai ecosystem complexes.

Turkmenistan's total area is 488,100 Km², The country extends for 1,100 Km from the east to the west and 650 from the south to the north. Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan, is situated in an oasis of the southern part of the country, near the Karakum Desert and the border with Iran. The city developed around a Russian fortress built in 1881 at the junction of caravan routes. Major growth began in 1885 when it became a station on the Trans-Caspian Railway. Its present population is estimated at 517,000.

Four fifth of the country lies at an elevation of about 500 m above sea level. The highest point is the peak of Airybaba (3,139m.) and the lowest is the depression of Akdzhakaya in the Karakum desert (81 m. below seal level). The lands along the Caspian Sea shore comprise a depressed area, sometimes more than 20 meters below sea level.Turkmenistan is seismically active, in particular the Kopetdag range, where Ashgabat is located. Some earthquakes have been particularly devastating. The last major one occurred in 1948, which rattled the Richter scale at 9, levelled Ashgabat and took 110,000 lives.

The climate is desert continental, with cold winters and very hot summers. For most of the country, the average daily temperature in January ranges from -6° to 5°C, while in July the average temperature is 27° to 32°C. July is the hottest month in most of the territory and absolute temperatures above 50°C have been registered in Repetek and Uchadzi in the Karakum desert.Average annual precipitation ranges from about 76 to 398 millimeters, although two-thirds of the country receives 150 millimeters or less. There are four regions according to annual precipitation. These are the Zaungus Karakum, the Kara-Bogaz-Gol Bay, and north-eastern regions with 110 mm. annually, the low Karakum with 150 mm., the piedmont regions on the south and south-east with 200-250 mm., and the mountain regions with over 250 mm.

Turkmenistan is one of five Central Asian countries, and has an estimated population of 4.46 million, with 44% living in urban areas and 56% living in rural areas. There are 1.6 million ha. under irrigation, mainly from the Karakum River.

Since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Turkmenistan, like all the republics of the Former Soviet Union (FSU), has struggled with the problems of transition to a market economy. Under the FSU the country had been producing raw materials such as gas and cotton, with only 30% of required goods being produced in the country. The situation has not changed significantly. Still today Turkmenistan is mainly a producer of raw commodities with cotton, oil, and gas as the main backbones of the country's economy. The government goal is to diversify the economy and in particular to increase and diversify the capacity of the industrial sector. The actual GDP per capita in 1997 is $2,683.

With independence and democratization, environmental conscience and awareness is growing, and environmental policy reform is gradually being incorporated into the framework of economic and structural change.