Africa Must Push For The Use Of Equal Earth Projection

African countries must collectively push for the use of the Equal Earth Projection, which is an equal-area, pseudocylindrical world map created in 2018 by cartographers, Bojan Savric, Bernhard Jenny and Tom Patterson, which puts countries and continents in true proportion to one another, because it better preserves their sizes, making it relevant to be used for education as well as giving a true representation of the world, Togo’s foreign minister, Robert Dussey has said.

The Equal Earth Projection is different from the Mercator Projection created in 1569 by the Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercato, which was primarily designed to facilitate maritime navigation by preserving angles and directions, but significantly distorts the size of territories as one move away from the Equator.

With the Mercator Projection, “Africa appears much smaller than it actually is, while regions closer to the poles appear greatly enlarged. For example, Africa is about 14 times larger than Greenland. But according to the Mercator projection, its size almost appears comparable to Greenland. This does not mean that the Mercator projection is a ‘wrong map’. It was designed for a specific purpose: navigation rather than the accurate representation of land areas,” Dussey said.

On September 4, Dussey spoke about the Mercator Projection ahead of the UN General Assembly vote on Correct Map resolution and said, “a fair world begins with a fair map,” adding that, maps guide education and shape collective perception.” The Assembly voted overwhelmingly with 164 in favour, one against, and six abstentions to encourage the shift away from the Mercator Projection

For this reason, he said, “alternatives such as the Equal Earth projection, which better preserve the relative size of continents, are increasingly relevant, particularly for education and the true representation of our world,” adding that, “Mercator is excellent for navigation, but inadequate for showing the true size of continents. Correcting the map means ensuring that our visual representation of the world reflects geographical reality more accurately.”

Dussey said after the adoption of the “Correct the Map” resolution, the main change for Africa will be how the continent is represented and perceived, rather than any change to its territory or borders. The resolution encourages the wider use of equal-area projections such as Equal Earth, which represent Africa's actual geographical size more accurately.

He said, for Africa, this can mean an accurate representation of the continent in maps and educational materials; a change in geographical education, particularly in schools and universities; a correction of perceptions, allowing future generations to see Africa according to its real scale; and a greater African ownership of its narrative, demonstrating that Africa can successfully bring its own concerns to the global agenda.

Dussey made it clear that, “the resolution is not legally binding and does not abolish the Mercator projection, which remains useful for navigation,” however he said, “African countries should now move from adoption to implementation.”

“They should now turn the UN resolution into concrete action. Since the resolution is non-binding, its impact will depend largely on implementation at national and continental levels. African countries should seize the adoption of the UN resolution as an opportunity to move from recognition to action,” he said.

Dussey said the “the priority should be to ensure that the resolution produces a lasting change in the way Africa is represented and understood. This means progressively introducing more accurate maps in our schools, universities, public institutions, media and official publications, while encouraging international publishers and digital platforms to do the same.”

At the continental level, he said the African Union should develop a common implementation framework to guide Member States and monitor progress. In addition, Africa should use “the corrected Map” as part of a broader effort to reclaim its narrative, strengthen historical and geographical awareness, and promote a more accurate understanding of the continent among Africans and the rest of the world.

He said Togo’s decision to push through the resolution at the UN, was simply to make Africa look bigger on the map. “At the beginning, Togo was seeking greater fairness in the representation of Africa to ensure that Africa is presented according to objective geographical reality, rather than inherited distortions.”

Dussey said the initiative gave Togo, under the leadership the President of the Togolese Executive Council, Faure Gnassingbe, a wide diplomatic visibility and soft power, adding that, “its significance goes beyond Togo, and becomes continental. This pan-African initiative has allowed the country to act as a voice and diplomatic champion for a broader African concern.”

“Togo is not trying to redraw Africa's borders. The main purpose is to correct the way Africa is represented, perceived and understood in the world. That is exactly what makes the initiative strategically interesting for a relatively ‘small country’. Togo successfully leveraged an issue of representation to exert diplomatic influence far beyond its geographical size,” he added.

On peace on the African continent that Togo has used the Lomé Peace and Security Forum (LPSF) to fight for, Dussey said, the forum is currently moving beyond the model of a once-a-year conference and becoming a permanent and useful platform for African dialogue, preventive diplomacy and mediation, based on the African Union's Peace and Security Architecture.

The Forum had its inaugural meeting from October 21-22, 2023 in Lome and followed with the second edition in October last year, focusing on Africa's complex security challenges.

Dussey said, since then, the LPSF has remained active through high-level meetings this year. So far, Lomé has hosted discussions on the peace process in eastern DRC and the Great Lakes region, including a January 2026 meeting that sought to harmonize the different mediation efforts and adopt a mediation framework and work plan.

“The Forum has also become a platform for discussing the Sahel, political transitions, terrorism, democratic governance and emerging security challenges. Its stated objective is to provide space for informal diplomatic initiatives and to develop African solutions to African problems,” he said, adding that, it is “gradually becoming one of Africa’s key instruments for projecting African-led diplomacy and positioning Lomé as a hub for peace, mediation and strategic dialogue on the continent.

Under the leadership of Gnassingbe, he said LPSF has made an important contribution to Africa’s peace and security architecture, stating that, “its main achievement has been to create a credible African platform where leaders, mediators, regional organizations, experts and civil society can openly discuss the continent’s most pressing conflicts and security challenges.”

“The Forum has also helped strengthen Lomé’s role as a centre for preventive diplomacy and mediation, particularly through its engagement with the crisis in the Great Lakes region and the situation in eastern DRC. It has also encouraged greater coordination among African peace initiatives and promoted the principle of African ownership of African solutions,” Dussey said.

He said the forum’s greatest achievement so far, had been the creation of a trusted space for African strategic dialogue. The next step is to convert this diplomatic capital into concrete mediation initiatives, conflict-prevention mechanisms and measurable peacebuilding results.