[SDI-Africa] [Sdi-ea] Fw: Map-making highlights impact of climate change

Wed Sep 5 05:22:17 EDT 2007

Not sure I completely buy the idea of radical cartographic change in just
four years, but I do find the idea that commercial mapmakers are having to
adjust their products because of climate-change an interesting and tangible
one. Of course they have to re-draw their maps occasionally anyway -
countries come and go, rivers change course, new highways are built, towns
get larger etc. - but the notion that maps reflect climate change (rather
than, say, mapping, climate change impacts per se) puts it all very much in
the domain of the man in the street rather than the environment specialist,
at least as far as I can see.

Mick Wilson
Division of Early Warning and Assessment (DEWA)
United Nations Environment Programme
PO Box 30552 -  Nairobi 00100, Kenya
Tel: +254 20 7623436
Fax: +254 20 7624315
Email: mick.wilson at unep.org
Web www.unep.net, www.unep.org

             Kate Lance                                                    
             <klance_remote at ya                                             
             hoo.com>                                                   To 
                                       Mick Wilson <Mick.Wilson at unep.org>  
             09/05/2007 11:41                                           cc 
             AM                                                            
                                                                   Subject 
                                       Re: [Sdi-ea] Fw: [SDI-Africa]       
             Please respond to         Map-making highlights impact of     
                Kate Lance             climate change                      
             <lancekt at aya.yale                                             
                   .edu>                                                   

Mick, would you send your reply to SDI-Africa List as well?

----- Original Message ----
From: Mick Wilson <Mick.Wilson at unep.org>
To: sdi-ea at als.unep.org; opengrid at als.unep.org; ALLDEWA%UNON at unon.org
Sent: Wednesday, September 5, 2007 10:06:46 AM
Subject: [Sdi-ea] Fw: [SDI-Africa] Map-making highlights impact of climate
change

Not sure I completely buy the idea of radical cartographic change in just
four years, but I do find the idea that commercial mapmakers are having to
adjust their products because of climate-change an interesting and
tangible. Of course they have to re-draw their maps occasionally anyway -
countries come and go, rivers change course, new highways are built, towns
get larger etc. - but the notion that maps reflect climate change (rather
than, say, mapping, climate change impacts per se) puts it all very much in
the domain of the man in the street rather than the environment specialist,
at least as far as I can see.

Mick Wilson
Division of Early Warning and Assessment (DEWA)
United Nations Environment Programme
PO Box 30552 - Nairobi 00100, Kenya
Tel: +254 20 7623436
Fax: +254 20 7624315
Email: mick.wilson at unep.org
Web www.unep.net, www.unep.org

----- Forwarded by Mick Wilson/UNEP/NBO/UNO on 09/05/2007 11:22 AM -----

sdi-africa-bounces at lists.gsdi.org wrote on 09/05/2007 08:22:23 AM:

> Map makers challenged by having to update maps to keep up with
> changes caused by climate change....
>
> http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/09/04/2023128.htm
> Map-making highlights impact of climate change
> Map-making has always been political, and wars have started over the
> drawing of a boundary, but climate change has injected a new
> political element into modern cartography.
> It has been four years since the last edition of The Times
> Comprehensive Atlas of the World, and cartographers say they have
> had to redraw coastlines and reclassify land to reflect significant
> geographical changes since then.
> Some of the most marked changes highlighted in the new atlas include
> the Aral Sea in central Asia, which has shrunk by 74 per cent since
> 1967, Lake Chad in Africa, which has shrunk by 95 per cent since
> 1963, and the Dead Sea in the Middle East, which is 25 metres lower
> than it was 50 years ago. The Bangladesh coastline has had to be
> redrawn as more land and islands are lost to the sea, while the
> lowest country in the world, the Pacific nation of Tuvalu, is now
> only five metres above sea level.
>
> See also: New Times Atlas displays effects of climate change
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070902/sc_afp/britainenvironment
>
> Got a little couch potato?
> Check out fun summer activities for kids.
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> SDI-Africa mailing list
> SDI-Africa at lists.gsdi.org
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