UN General Assembly endorses using Equal Earth projection map, Pg16

Key Highlights:

• The United Nations General Assembly endorsed the use of the Equal Earth projection map to more accurately represent the size of continents, particularly Africa.
• The resolution encourages governments and institutions globally to replace the traditional Mercator projection with the Equal Earth projection.
• The vote passed with 164 member states in favor, with the United States casting the sole vote against, and six countries abstaining.
• The initiative was a culmination of a campaign led by African countries, spearheaded by Togo and supported by the African Union.

Detailed Insights:

• The Mercator projection, developed in 1569 by Gerardus Mercator, was primarily designed for maritime navigation, preserving angles and directions.
• However, the Mercator projection significantly distorts the relative sizes of landmasses, making regions farther from the equator appear much larger than they are.
• On Mercator maps, Africa often appears similar in size to Greenland, despite Africa being approximately 14 times larger.
• The Equal Earth projection, created in 2018 by Bojan Šavrič, Bernhard Jenny, and Tom Patterson, is an equal-area pseudocylindrical projection.
• This projection preserves the relative area of regions, offering a more accurate visual representation of continental sizes.
• The UN resolution is not legally binding but serves to encourage the adoption of more accurate map projections in educational and technological contexts.
• The "Correct the Map" campaign advocated for this change to challenge Eurocentric perspectives and improve global geographic literacy.

Scientific/Technical Concepts Involved:

• Map Projection: A method of representing the three-dimensional surface of the Earth onto a two-dimensional flat surface, inevitably introducing some distortion.
• Mercator Projection: A conformal map projection that preserves local angles and shapes, making it useful for navigation, but severely distorts areas at higher latitudes.
• Equal Earth Projection: An equal-area pseudocylindrical map projection designed to accurately represent the relative sizes of landmasses while maintaining a visually pleasing aesthetic.
• Equal-Area Projection: A type of map projection where the area of any region on the map is proportional to its true area on the Earth's surface.