2026年9月6日 美国东部时间凌晨3:29 / 哥伦比亚广播公司/美联社
联合国大会周五通过决议，认可一款能更准确展现非洲大陆真实面积的新版世界地图，这是非洲国家与倡导团体近期发起的运动的最终成果。
这项由多哥发起、非洲联盟成员国支持的决议以164个成员国投赞成票获得通过。仅有美国投下反对票，另有塞尔维亚、爱沙尼亚、格鲁吉亚、立陶宛、摩尔多瓦和乌克兰六个国家弃权。
该决议呼吁全球各国政府和机构用“等面积地图投影”替代自16世纪以来广泛使用的传统墨卡托地图。倡导组织和地理学家表示，等面积投影能更准确地呈现各地的实际情况。
等面积世界地图示意图：调整各国面积以更准确呈现实际大小 等面积地图
墨卡托投影会将格陵兰岛与非洲绘制成大小相近的样子，但等面积投影遵循地球真实比例，非洲的实际面积是格陵兰岛的14倍。
联合国在报告中指出，周五的决议并未禁止使用墨卡托投影，也未强制要求替换地图，仅鼓励使用等面积地图投影。
“地图塑造我们对世界的认知，”联合国援引多哥外交部长罗伯特·杜塞在投票前的发言称，“它们引导教育、滋养想象力，并影响集体认知。”
倡导采用新版地图的核心组织之一“非洲无滤镜”对决议表示欢迎，并补充道：“我们希望在学校、教科书、新闻编辑部、企业以及数十亿人日常使用的数字平台上，都能看到准确的地图。”
多个国家对决议通过表示祝贺，并呼吁推广等面积地图。法国外交部长让-诺埃尔·巴罗在投票后在X平台上表示：“更换地图显然不会改变世界，但纠正扭曲世界的呈现方式本身就是一种彰显真相的行为。”
三种常见地图投影信息图：墨卡托、加尔-彼得斯与等面积投影 瓦伦丁·拉科夫斯基和让-米歇尔·科尔纽 / 法新社/盖蒂图片社
墨卡托地图由佛兰德斯制图师杰拉杜斯·墨卡托设计，初衷是帮助欧洲海上航海者，但倡导组织指出，该投影扭曲了陆地面积：放大了北美、格陵兰岛等极地附近区域，同时缩小了非洲和南美洲的面积。
而2018年推出的等面积投影遵循地球曲率，能按真实比例展示各大洲。
地理学家表示，传统墨卡托地图仅在航海导航领域有用。
锡拉丘兹大学地理学教授马克·蒙莫尼尔指出：“除了这一非常狭窄的导航应用场景之外，使用它没有任何意义。”
UN votes to endorse new map projection that shows Africa’s size more accurately
September 6, 2026 3:29 AM EDT / CBS/AP
The United Nations General Assembly on Friday endorsed a new world map that represents Africa more accurately in its larger size, a culmination of a recent campaign led by African countries and advocacy groups.
Friday’s resolution, which was sponsored by Togo and backed by members of the African Union, was passed with 164 member states voting in favor. Only the U.S. voted against it while six other countries – Serbia, Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova and Ukraine – abstained.
The vote encourages governments and institutions around the world to replace the traditional Mercator map, commonly used since the 16th Century, with the Equal Earth projection that advocates and geographers say shows locations more accurately.
Graphic of the Equal Earth map, which adjusts the sizes of various countries to represent their size more accurately Equal Earth
The Mercator projection shows Greenland and Africa as appearing to be about the same size whereas in the Equal Earth projection that shows continents in their true proportions, Africa is 14 times larger than Greenland.
Friday’s resolution does not ban the Mercator projection or impose a replacement, but only encourages the use of the Equal Earth projection, the U.N. said in its report.
“Maps shape our understanding of the world,” the global body quoted Togo’s Foreign Minister Robert Dussey as saying before the vote. “They guide education, nourish the imagination, and influence collective perceptions.”
Africa No Filter, one of the lead campaigners for the adoption of the new map, hailed the resolution, adding: “We want to see accurate maps in schools, textbooks, newsrooms, businesses and on the digital platforms billions of people use every day.”
Several countries hailed the adoption and urged the adoption of the Equal Earth map. “Changing the map obviously doesn’t change the world. But correcting a representation that distorts it is already an act of truth,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said on X after the vote.
Infographic displaying three common map projections: the Mercator, the Gall-Peters and the Equal Earth projections. Valentin RAKOVSKY and Jean-Michel CORNU / AFP via Getty Images
The Mercator map was designed by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator to help European navigators at sea, but advocates say it distorted landmasses by enlarging regions near the poles such as North America and Greenland while shrinking Africa and South America.
The 2018 Equal Earth projection, on the other hand, follows the Earth’s curvature and shows continents in their true proportions.
Geographers say the traditional map is only useful for navigation.
“Outside of that very narrow navigation application, there is no point in using it,” according to Mark Monmonier, a Syracuse University professor of geography.
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