The colours of this website theme were drawn directly from the UNEP (United Nations Environment Program) map: “Vulnerabilities: Skin colour map (indigenous peoples): predicted from multiple environmental factors” on the GRID Arendal site. This map was authored by Emmanuelle Bournay, UNEP/GRID-Arendal, 2007.
According to its description: “The twin role played by the skin – protection from excessive UV radiation and absorption of enough sunlight to trigger the production of vitamin D – means that people living in the lower latitudes, close to the Equator, with intense UV radiation, have developed darker skin to protect them from the damaging effects of UV radiation. In contrast, those living in the higher latitudes, closer to the Poles, have developed fair skin to maximize vitamin D production.”
And, so, this map shows areas of colour based on latitude, environment and indigeneity without noting that, with diaspora and migrations, dark skinned people also live near the Poles, light skinned peoples also live near the Equator, and people of many colours of skin are gathered in large cosmopolitan cities around the world.