<\/p>\n
AU Commission (AUC) Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf said the resolution marked an important step towards ensuring that maps accurately represent the relative surface areas of Africa and other regions.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Togo championed the resolution on behalf of the African Group at the UN.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Youssouf commended Togo\u2019s leadership and Togo Council of Ministers President Faure Essozimna Gnassingb\u00e9 for supporting the initiative and helping to secure broad international backing.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Youssouf also congratulated AU Member States and the African Group in New York for maintaining a united position during the campaign.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The resolution challenges the continued widespread use of the Mercator projection, which was designed during the 16th century primarily for maritime navigation.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
While useful for navigation, the Mercator projection does not accurately represent the relative surface areas of continents. The resulting distortion makes Africa appear considerably smaller than Africa\u2019s actual geographical size.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The AUC said the initiative extended beyond cartography and supported the representation of Africa through objective and scientifically established information.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Youssouf encouraged international institutions, education systems, publishers and digital platforms to progressively adopt map projections that provide a more accurate representation of land areas.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A shift towards more accurate maps could influence how Africa\u2019s geography is presented in classrooms, publications, official documents and digital services.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The AUC said fair cartographic representation was important because maps shape perceptions of the continent\u2019s geographical scale and position in the world.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Africa\u2019s actual dimensions should therefore be reflected when institutions select maps for educational, official or public use.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The AUC will continue working with Togo, AU Member States and relevant partners to support implementation of the initiative. \u201cAfrica must be represented as it truly is: in its true dimensions and in its rightful place in the world,\u201d Youssouf said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–AU\/ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":40529,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-44723","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"The African Union (AU) Commission has welcomed the United Nations General Assembly\u2019s adoption of a resolution calling for fairer and more accurate maps of Africa.","published_date":"","news_description":"The African Union (AU) Commission has welcomed the United Nations General Assembly\u2019s adoption of a resolution calling for fairer and more accurate maps of Africa.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/44723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/44723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44726,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/44723\/revisions\/44726"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=44723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}