Atlas changes maps to show current landscape
Monday 3rd September, 2007

The last edition of the atlas was published in 2003.

Environmental disasters and changing geographical features are now unfolding and cartographers have had to redraw coastlines and reclassify types of land to reflect the shift.

For instance, Lake Chad in Africa is now 95 per cent smaller than it was in 1963.

Outlines of large land masses are also changing.

In Bangladesh, sea levels are rising about three millimetres a year, which is changing the coastline.

Some of the changes are influenced by irrigation schemes, like the Aral Sea in central Asia which has shrunk in size by three-quarters in the past 40 years as waters have been diverted to help a cotton-growing scheme.

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