Wrong borders for Golan

Hello,

This is the first time I’m using the iNat forums, so I hope this is the correct place for my topic.

I noticed that the Golan area is considered part of Israel and not of Syria. This is not correct. Golan is a Syrian province (also known as Quneitra Governorate) that has only been occupied and administered by Israel for a long time. Yet, apart from the USA, no country in the world recognizes Golan as part of Israel.

It is equal to the situation in Crimea: although that area is a part of Ukraine and is recognized as such by nearly every country in the world, it has been occupied and administered by Russia for a while now. Yet, on iNat’s map, Crimea is still considered part of Ukraine.

I don’t like politics at all but I do really appreciate that iNat’s maps are politically correct. So, if Crimea is considered part of Ukraine even though it’s being administered by Russia, then I think Golan should also be considered part of Syria.

It really makes a difference, too, because the area is very rich in biodiversity. A very simple example: if one would see which butterflies occur in Syria, it seems Parnassius mnemosyne does not occur in Syria as there isn’t a single observation, even though there are many observations in Golan!

Is there a place where I can request the borders to be adjusted? Or is this post enough?

Thank you.

Joey

Welcome to the forum! I’ve unlisted this topic because, in general, issues with specific places are best dealt with via place flags for curation on iNat itself. This type of issue, which is politically sensitive, might be better dealt with via direct communication to staff such as @tiwane or @carrieseltzer (who I am tagging here). You could email help@inaturalist.org as well. It would be helpful to know whether you are referring to a specific place on iNat (in which a link to the place would be helpful) or maps in the Explore page, which are sourced from Google.

Thanks!

https://www.inaturalist.org/flags/669322
for reference