Key facts
- The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution to promote maps that accurately depict continent sizes.
- The resolution supports the Equal Earth projection as an alternative to the Mercator projection.
- The United States was the sole country to vote against the resolution.
- The US delegation described the resolution as part of a "much larger and more radical ideological project."
- The Equal Earth map aims to represent landmasses' area more fairly than the Mercator map.
The United Nations General Assembly has adopted a resolution calling for the promotion of maps that more accurately reflect the true size of continents, a move championed by African nations. This initiative seeks to replace the widely used 16th-century Mercator projection, which significantly distorts the relative sizes of landmasses, making countries near the equator appear much smaller than they are. For instance, Africa is depicted as roughly the same size as Greenland, despite being approximately 14 times larger.
The resolution, which advocates for the adoption of projections like the Equal Earth map, passed despite opposition from the United States. The US delegation characterized the resolution as part of a "much larger and more radical ideological project." Several other countries, including Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova, Serbia, and Ukraine, abstained from the vote.
Robert Dussey, Togo's foreign minister and lead negotiator for the African group, emphasized that "A fair map does not change the geography of the world" and that the decision is "about justice, dignity, equality and the way we represent our world." The Mercator projection, created by Gerardus Mercator in 1569, was designed for maritime navigation, where maintaining straight compass bearings was crucial. However, its distortion of area has led to criticisms that it implicitly downplays the significance of regions like Africa.
Alternative projections, such as the Equal Earth map developed in 2018, aim to represent landmass areas more fairly but sacrifice the navigational accuracy of the Mercator projection. The Peters map, based on an earlier Gall projection, also attempts to correct area distortion but significantly distorts shapes.