Brief by Shorts91 Newsdesk / 05:56am on 05 Sep 2026,Saturday International
The United Nations General Assembly has adopted a resolution supporting the Equal Earth map projection, designed to represent continents and countries more accurately. The move addresses distortions caused by the widely used Mercator projection, which makes regions near the poles appear disproportionately large while shrinking areas around the equator, including Africa. The resolution received 164 votes in favour, while the United States voted against it and six countries abstained. The US criticised the initiative as an ideological distraction from pressing global issues. The resolution is not legally binding but encourages wider use in education, institutions and digital mapping.
