AFOLABI SAHEED OLAWALE 

Nigeria has joined 163 other countries in backing an African-led United Nations resolution calling for more accurate representation of the continent on world maps.

The United Nations General Assembly adopted the resolution, titled “Correct the Map: Rebalancing Global Cartographic Representation and Promoting Equitable Representation of the World’s Regions, Particularly Africa,” by 164 votes to one, with six countries abstaining.

The United States cast the only vote against the resolution, while Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine abstained.

The African Union-backed initiative seeks to address what proponents describe as the long-standing distortion of Africa’s geographical size in conventional world maps, particularly those based on the Mercator projection.

Africa covers approximately 30 million square kilometres, making it the world’s second-largest continent by land area and population. However, advocates of the resolution argue that its visual representation on widely used maps has historically made the continent appear significantly smaller than its actual size.

The overwhelming vote at the General Assembly marked a major diplomatic victory for the African Group, which has pushed for greater accuracy and equity in global cartographic representation.

Togo led negotiations on behalf of the African Group, building on an African Union-supported campaign calling for an end to the disproportionate visual representation of the continent.

Addressing the General Assembly, Togo’s Foreign Minister, Robert Dussey, stressed that maps were more than technical tools, arguing that they played an important role in shaping how people perceive the world.

“Maps shape our understanding of the world. They guide education, nourish the imagination and influence collective perceptions,” Dussey said.

The resolution encourages the wider adoption of the Equal Earth projection and other equal-area map projections, particularly in educational and other contexts where accurate comparisons of the relative sizes of countries and continents are important.

According to proponents, the continued use of distorted projections contributes to the “symbolic minimisation” of Africa and other regions in the global collective imagination.

Advocates argue that adopting more geographically accurate maps could help reshape perceptions of Africa and reinforce a more balanced understanding of the continent’s place in the world.

The Equal Earth projection, developed in 2018, is designed to preserve the relative areas of countries and continents. Under the projection, Africa appears substantially closer to its actual geographical scale.

The campaign has therefore positioned cartographic representation as part of a broader conversation about how Africa is perceived globally.

As supporters of the resolution emphasised, changing the map does not alter the geography of the world, but could change how the world is perceived.

The UN vote consequently represents not only a technical discussion about cartography but also an African-led effort to promote greater fairness in how the continent is portrayed in classrooms, institutions and public discourse around the world.