New york: In a landmark decision aimed at correcting global cartographic representation, the United Nations General Assembly has adopted a resolution led by the Republic of Togo, with support from the African Union, by a decisive vote of 164 in favor, 1 against, and 6 abstentions. According to African Press Organization, the resolution encourages governments, educational institutions, international organisations, media, and technology companies to adopt equal-area map projections like the Equal Earth projection, which more accurately reflect the true size of countries and continents. This initiative seeks to address the historical distortions caused by the Mercator projection, which has been the default map for nearly 500 years but misrepresents the relative size of continents, particularly Africa, which appears at roughly half its true scale. The vote marks a significant acknowledgment by the world's governments that the Mercator projection, designed in 1569 for European maritime navigation, preserves ang les at the expense of area. In reality, Africa is approximately fourteen times larger than Greenland, although they appear similar in size on the Mercator map. The Correct the Map campaign, launched by Speak Up Africa and Africa No Filter, has been instrumental in challenging these distortions and advocating for maps that reflect Africa's true dimensions in classrooms, media, and public life. The campaign, supported by over 11,000 citizens, educators, and researchers, received formal backing from the African Union in 2025, transforming a civic demand into a continental political position. Togo's Foreign Affairs Minister, Professor Robert Dussey, championed the resolution at the General Assembly, emphasizing that a fair world begins with a fair map. Speak Up Africa's Executive Director, Yacine Djibo, highlighted the significance of the vote as a manifestation of African leadership on the global stage, advocating for fair representation and development priorities. The importance of this initiative extends bey ond Africa. The Mercator projection affects the entire equatorial belt, including regions like South America and South Asia. Equal-area projections, which preserve the true proportions of continents while retaining familiar shapes, are already widely used in scientific and educational settings. Following the vote, efforts will focus on implementation across several areas, including the United Nations system, education, media and publishing, digital platforms, and progress tracking. Speak Up Africa and Africa No Filter invite pan-African partners, ministries, media houses, publishers, universities, and civil society organizations to join the implementation phase, fostering widespread adoption of equal-area maps. The countries voting in favor of the resolution include every African member state present, along with the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, China, Russia, India, Japan, Australia, and Brazil. The resolution faced opposition from the United States, while Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, the Republ ic of Moldova, Serbia, and Ukraine abstained from the vote.
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