UN backs Africa-led push for fairer world maps as US votes alone against
The UN General Assembly on Friday adopted an Africa-led resolution calling for more accurate representations of the continent on world maps, with 164 countries voting in favour, six abstaining and the United States casting the only vote against.
Ahead of the vote, US Deputy Representative to the UN Economic and Social Council Yaryna Ferencevich criticised the proposal, calling resolutions like it "barnacles on our work here" and arguing that they were contributing to the UN's loss of credibility.
The resolution nevertheless passed overwhelmingly. Togolese Foreign Minister Robert Dussey said longstanding cartographic distortions had helped minimise Africa's perceived size and contributed to an unbalanced view of world geography.
The measure promotes greater use of equal-area maps, including the Equal Earth projection, which preserve the relative size of continents more accurately than the centuries-old Mercator projection.
Dussey said the initiative was not directed against any country or cartographic tradition, but aimed at encouraging projections that better reflect the true proportions of continents.
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
Niger accuses France of backing failed coup attempt
The African Union has backed the campaign through its "Correct the Map" initiative, arguing that maps can influence how countries and continents are perceived globally.
This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
