The United Nations General Assembly voted Friday to adopt a new world map that aims to present the relative size of continents more accurately. The move gives Africa greater prominence while reducing the apparent size of North America and Europe, prompting opposition from the United States.
France, which co-sponsored the resolution, announced Friday that it would abandon the Mercator projection.
US representative Yaryna Ferencevych said such initiatives are “the reason this institution is losing its credibility. “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,” Ferencevych said ahead of the vote. Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said that under the projection, “the United States, Russia and China take on a disproportionate visual prominence compared to Africa, Latin America or Southeast Asia,” while “Greenland appears almost as big as Africa”. “Changing maps obviously doesn’t change the world,” Barrot said. “But correcting a distorted representation is already an act of truth.”
The map, known as the Equal Earth cartographic projection, is intended to improve “the accuracy of the cartographic representation of the world,” according to the resolution. Togo, which sponsored the resolution, said maps can shape how people understand the world. Foreign Minister Robert Dussey said maps “guide education, nourish the imagination, and influence collective perceptions.”
