The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution to accept the Equal Earth map projection, which displays countries and continents in their accurate relative sizes, on Friday. The United States was the only member nation among the 165 to vote against the measure, with six nations abstaining.
Yaryna Ferencevych, the deputy U.S. representative to the UN Economic and Social Council, stated that the resolution, presented as a minor update to cartographic proportions, was actually part of a "much larger and more radical ideological project." She argued that debating 16th-century map projects and their role in promoting reparations and cognitive justice distracts from genuine issues of international peace and prosperity.
"Resolutions like this one and the ideological agenda they promote are barnacles on our work here and the reason this institution is losing its credibility," Ferencevych said during the 114th Plenary meeting.
The Equal Earth map aims to correct the distortions of the Mercator projection, created in 1569 for maritime navigation. The Mercator projection enlarges land masses near the poles and shrinks those near the equator, making continents like Africa appear significantly smaller relative to Europe and Greenland.
While the resolution does not mandate the abandonment of the Mercator projection, it establishes the UN's official endorsement of equal-area maps as the preferred depiction of the world. The Mercator projection experienced a resurgence in popularity after Google Maps adopted its Web Mercator variant in 2005, a standard that became prevalent in online mapping services due to its suitability for interactive digital maps that allow smooth panning and zooming.
Togo's Foreign Minister Robert Dussey, who introduced the resolution on behalf of the African Group, stated that adopting the new map would "promote projections that better preserve the true proportions of continents." He added, "A fair map does not change the geography of the world; it changes how we see the world. And when our perspective becomes more just, it paves the way for greater understanding, respect and peace among nations."