UN Adopts Equal Earth Map; US Lone Dissenting Vote
The United Nations General Assembly has voted overwhelmingly to adopt a resolution encouraging the use of map projections that more accurately reflect the true size of continents, with the United States casting the sole dissenting vote. The “Correct the Map” resolution, adopted by a recorded vote of 164 to 1 with 6 abstentions on September 4, promotes the Equal Earth projection as a more faithful representation of the world’s landmasses, particularly Africa.
A Cartographic Shift Rooted in Colonial Legacy
The resolution, introduced by Togo on behalf of the African Group and supported by the African Union, addresses a distortion that has shaped global perceptions for centuries. The Mercator projection, created in 1569 by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator for maritime navigation, preserves direction but distorts area - landmasses appear increasingly enlarged the farther they are from the Equator. As a result, Greenland appears roughly comparable in size to Africa on Mercator maps, even though Africa is about 14 times larger.
“Maps shape our understanding of the world,” Robert Dussey, Togo’s Foreign Minister, said before the vote. “They guide education, nourish the imagination, and influence collective perceptions.” He added that “a fair map does not change the geography of the world; it changes how we see the world.”
The resolution describes correcting these cartographic distortions as an act of “cognitive justice and memorial reparation,” linking the campaign to broader African efforts to confront colonial-era legacies. The measure does not ban the Mercator projection or impose a single replacement. Instead, it encourages governments, schools, international organizations, and technology companies to use the Equal Earth projection and other equal-area maps when relative size matters.
Washington’s Objection
The United States was the only nation to vote against the resolution. Yaryna Ferencevych, Deputy U.S. Representative to the UN Economic and Social Council, delivered a sharp rebuke, calling the initiative part of “a much larger and more radical ideological project.”
“Instead of focusing on genuine problems of international peace, prosperity, or good relations, this body is debating map projects from the 16th century, and their role in promoting reparations and ‘cognitive justice,’” Ferencevych said. “Resolutions like this and the ideological agenda they promote are barnacles on our work here and the reason this institution is losing its credibility.”
The US objection reflects a broader pattern of Washington’s opposition to UN initiatives touching on themes of reparations and colonial legacy, consistent with its rejection of the UN migration declaration and its lone opposition to the International Decade of Culture for Sustainable Development resolution adopted the same day.
France Aligns with the Campaign
Hours before the UN vote, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot announced that France would abandon the Mercator projection for its maps, aligning Paris with the African-led effort. Speaking at the Sorbonne University, Barrot said France will adopt the Eckert IV projection, a similar equal-area projection created in 1906.
“A map is never entirely neutral,” Barrot said. “The United States, Russia, China take on a disproportionate visual importance compared with Africa, Latin America or South-East Asia.” He added: “Changing the map obviously does not change the world. But correcting a representation that distorts it is already an act of truth.”
The shift means France itself, like the United States and Russia, will appear smaller relative to equatorial countries on the new maps.
Ukraine’s Territorial Concern
Ukraine abstained from the vote, along with Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova, and Serbia. Kyiv objected to how the Equal Earth projection depicts parts of Ukrainian territory occupied by Russia, including Crimea, in a manner its UN envoy Andriy Melnyk called “wholly unacceptable.”
Ukrainian lawmaker Kira Rudik voiced her frustration on social media, saying: “In 2026, the U.N. should not need a reminder: Crimea is Ukraine. Shame.”
The European Union, which supported the resolution, addressed the concern directly. Speaking on behalf of the bloc, Ireland stressed that the measure applies only to the relative size of landmasses and has no bearing on sovereignty, territorial status, or internationally recognized borders.
The Equal Earth Projection
The Equal Earth projection, developed in 2018 by cartographers Tom Patterson, Bernhard Jenny, and Bojan Savric, is an equal-area pseudocylindrical global map projection that preserves the relative land area of countries more faithfully than Mercator. The African Union’s 54 member states adopted the projection earlier this year, saying it “more accurately represents the sizes of all continents, particularly Africa.”
Patterson expressed surprise at the UN’s action. “Wow. When we created the Equal Earth projection in 2018, we never imagined this,” he wrote on social media, as reported by NPR.
What’s Next
The resolution is non-binding, so its practical impact depends on voluntary adoption by governments, schools, and technology companies. The Mercator projection remains widely used in classrooms, and virtually every major online mapping service - including Google Maps - adopted the Web Mercator variant after 2005.
Moky Makura, Executive Director of Africa No Filter, a group behind the Correct the Map campaign, said the real work now begins. “We want to see accurate maps in schools, textbooks, newsrooms, businesses and on the digital platforms billions of people use every day,” she said. “If we got something as basic as Africa’s size wrong for this long, what else about Africa have we simply accepted without questioning? Africa doesn’t need to be made bigger. It needs to be seen accurately.”
As BBC News noted, the vote reflects a broader reckoning with how maps shape perceptions. “Maps are more than just guides for travellers - they shape how regions are perceived politically and economically,” Kenyan geographer Kioko Muendo told the BBC.
Whether major digital platforms will change their default projections, and how the Ukraine-Crimea issue will be addressed in future map iterations, remain open questions. But Friday’s vote gave near-unanimous international backing to an argument that has gained increasing traction: that the choices made over maps can shape how generations understand the world.