The United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on Friday to adopt an African-led resolution endorsing the Equal Earth cartographic projection, a move designed to correct centuries of geographic distortion on world maps that has historically made Africa and equatorial regions appear significantly smaller than northern landmasses.
A Diplomatic Push Led by Togo and the African Union
One member state voted against the initiative, while six abstained as detailed in the UN General Assembly vote counts. The initiative was spearheaded by Togo on behalf of the African Group and received formal backing from the African Union.
Togo’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Professor Robert Dussey, drove the diplomatic push, urging African nations to unite behind the proposal ahead of the Friday vote. On the eve of the assembly, Togo hosted a reception for UN member states to secure broad consensus, framing the debate around how cartography influences global perceptions in educational and institutional settings.
“A map is never neutral, it shapes perceptions, influences how the place of peoples and continents in the world is understood, and may, sometimes from the earliest years of schooling, perpetuate representations that do not correspond to geographic reality.”
Professor Robert Dussey, Togo’s Foreign Affairs Minister, via Daily Mail
Challenging the Traditional Mercator Projection
For centuries, global mapping has relied heavily on the Mercator projection, which was designed for maritime navigation by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569 according to historical records. While the Mercator map preserves accurate shapes and angles for maritime travel, it distorts relative land sizes significantly as regions lie further from the equator. Northern landmasses including North America, Europe, Russia, and Greenland are visually exaggerated, while equatorial and southern regions are compressed as noted in geographic analyses.
One of the most frequently cited distortions involves Greenland, which appears roughly comparable in size to Africa on traditional Mercator maps, even though Africa is actually 14 times larger according to the African Union’s evaluation. Historians and campaigners have long criticized these imbalances, with some critics applying the term cartographic colonialism
to describe the visual dominance of northern countries over equatorial regions.
The Shift to Equal Earth and International Reactions
The newly endorsed resolution encourages governments, educational institutions, international bodies, and technology companies to adopt equal-area alternatives—specifically the Equal Earth projection. Developed in 2018 by an international team of cartographers including Bojan Savric, the Equal Earth map preserves the relative surface areas of continents while maintaining realistic shapes as much as possible on a two-dimensional plane.
France co-sponsored the resolution and announced it would abandon the Mercator projection in its own official materials following the assembly’s decision. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot noted that traditional maps grant disproportionate visual prominence
to the United States, Russia, and China compared to Africa, Latin America, and southeast Asia during his remarks on Friday.
“Changing maps obviously doesn’t change the world. But correcting a distorted representation is already an act of truth.”
Jean-Noel Barrot, French Foreign Minister, via Punch
Not all member states welcomed the measure. The United States voted against the resolution and sharply criticized the UN General Assembly for debating cartography rather than pressing international crises according to diplomatic statements.
“Instead of focusing on genuine problems… this body is debating map projects from the 16th century and their role in promoting reparations and cognitive justice.”
Yaryna Ferencevych, US representative, via Punch
Implementation Plans and Next Steps
Following the UN vote, Togo’s government plans to partner with UNESCO, the African Union, and technology companies—including Google Maps—to host a specialized event in Lomé during the first quarter of next year to discuss practical implementation strategies. The African Union intends to engage educational publishers, geospatial experts, and media practitioners worldwide to encourage broader adoption of accurate geographic standards across digital and print platforms.
