India on Sunday backed the United Nations General Assembly resolution promoting the use of equal-area world maps, clarifying that its support does not endorse any specific map projection or depiction of national boundaries.
The clarification came against the backdrop of the UN General Assembly’s adoption of a resolution titled Correct the Map: Rebalancing Global Cartographic Representation and Promoting Equitable Representation of the World’s Regions, particularly Africa, on September 4. This encourages the use of equal-area map projections that preserve the relative sizes of the continental land masses.
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, explaining why India voted in favour of the resolution, said, “The resolution neither adopts nor authenticates any particular world map, nor does it address political cartography, including international boundaries, disputed territories or place names.”
Making itself clear on the depiction of its territory, India claims that its sovereign territory, including the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, must be shown in accordance with India’s official map.
“Any inaccurate or misleading depiction is unacceptable,” Jaiswal said, adding that India’s position on its sovereignty and territorial integrity was “clear, consistent and non-negotiable.
The resolution, led by Togo and backed by the African Union, has argued that the conventional Mercator maps distort the relative sizes of landmasses. The resolution encourages the use of equal-area projections for education, public communication and other purposes where accurate comparison of the sizes of each country and continent is important.
It remains to be seen what the result would be. UN support does not mean that the world’s map will immediately change. The resolution is non-binding and its practical impact will be determined in the near future.