Brief by Shorts91 Newsdesk / 06:14am on 07 Sep 2026,Monday India Global
The United Nations General Assembly passed a non-binding resolution on September 4 encouraging a shift from the Mercator projection to the 2018 Equal Earth map. Sponsored by Togo and spearheaded by the African Union, the resolution passed 164-1, with six abstentions; India voted in favour while the United States opposed it. The initiative seeks to represent Africa and Global South regions accurately and challenge Eurocentric cartographic conventions. Mercator preserves angles and directions for navigation but enlarges areas near the poles, making Africa appear comparable to Greenland despite being 15 times larger. Supporters argue such distortions can reinforce perceptions of Western cultural, economic and geopolitical dominance, making cartography a tool of power.
