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UN votes to correct
The United Nations General Assembly is voting Friday on whether to adopt the “Correct the Map” draft resolution, an African-led effort backed by African Union member states and the Bahamas to address what the draft calls the Mercator projection’s “symbolic minimization” of Africa.
“The “Correct the Map” draft resolution – put forward by African Union member states, as well as the Bahamas”
The draft resolution argues that distortions in the current world map mean Africa has undergone “symbolic minimization” in people’s collective imagination, and it says the distortions “contribute to minimizing the perceived sizes of Africa, Latin America and South Asia.”
CNN reported that the resolution proposes replacing the Mercator projection with the Equal Earth projection, which was introduced at the 2018 North American Cartographic Information Society conference and makes “Greenland dramatically diminishes” while Africa appears much larger in comparison.
The BBC said the “Correct the Map” resolution, sponsored by Togo and backed by African Union (AU) members, passed with the support of 164 nations, with the United States the only nation to vote against and six abstentions.
In the same BBC report, the Mercator map is described as showing Africa as similar in size to Greenland despite Africa being 14 times larger, and the UN vote is described as non-binding but expected to see changes to maps used by institutions around the world.
Dussey and Barrot
Togo’s Foreign Minister Robert Dussey framed the campaign as a matter of representation and perceptions, telling Reuters ahead of Friday’s vote, “A fair world begins with a fair map.”
The BBC also quoted Dussey saying, “A map is never neutral. It shapes perceptions, influences how the place of peoples and continents in the world is understood.”
France’s foreign affairs minister Jean-Noël Barrot said France “will abandon the Mercator projection” in favor of representations that more accurately depict countries’ surface areas, and he warned that “distortions eventually take root in perceptions.”
In a separate account, France’s foreign ministry said it plans to abandon using maps with the traditional Mercator projection, with Barrot telling AFP that “Greenland appears almost as big as Africa, whereas Africa is actually about fourteen times larger.”
The BBC reported that the United States was the only country to vote against the resolution and said it promoted an “ideological agenda” and was a distraction from the “genuine problems of international peace, prosperity or good relations.”
What changes next
The draft resolution urges tech platforms to engage with UN member states and regional organizations and adopt the more accurate projection, and it encourages governments, schools, international organizations and technology companies to use “Equal Earth” and other equal-area maps where continental size matters.
“The draft resolution urges tech platforms to engage with UN member states and regional organizations and adopt the more accurate projection.”
CNN said the draft resolution “urges tech platforms to engage with UN member states and regional organizations and adopt the more accurate projection,” while the Independent described the vote as calling for designs that “more accurately reflect the true size of countries.”
The BBC reported that the UN vote is non-binding but will see changes to the maps used by institutions around the world, and it noted that Togo hopes to change its school geography materials by the end of the year.
In the BBC’s account of the campaign, online group #CorrectTheMap said, “You could fit the United States, China, India, Japan, Mexico and much of Europe into Africa and still have land to spare.”
The Al Jazeera report added that the resolution is not legally binding and “in no way challenges the use of the Mercator projection for maritime and aerial navigation, for which it remains fully suited,” while Africa No Filter’s Moky Makura said, “now the real work begins.”