Maldives

The Maldives is particularly vulnerable to climate change as it consists primarily of low-lying coral atolls. MFF is assisting the Maldives to adopt a national Integrated Coastal Management approach that fully responds to and advances the Maldives National Adaptation Programme of Action on climate change.

MFF is supporting awareness-raising of climate change at island level and promotes activities such as climate adapted agricultural practices that minimize soil and water use. Ensuring a safe and healthy island environment is another MFF priority, particularly by improving waste management practices and by educating island residents about the importance of environmental protection.

The Maldives is composed of a series of low lying islands, where any area of land mass constitutes a coastal area. The total exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the Maldives is 959,100 sq km. Maldives holds a range of coastal ecosystems including coral reefs, seagrass beds, lagoons, beaches, and small areas of mangrove. Maldives depends entirely on the coastal and marine ecosystems as the asset base of the national economy.Tourism, the largest contributor to GDP, is based wholly on the health and attractiveness of Maldives’s coastal features.

The country’s second largest industry, fisheries, depends greatly on the productivity of healthy coastal and marine ecosystems. Some 29,577 people were displaced and 82 lost their lives. Of the inhabited islands, 53 were severely damaged, and another 14 islands had to be evacuated. The World Bank estimated the damage at USD 472 million.

Development activities have had significant impact on the coastal ecosystems in the Maldives. Some development activities, such as harbour dredging and land reclamation, permanently change the natural environment and substantially damage habitats while activities such as the improper disposal of solid waste and sewage have a slow cumulative impact on the environment. Beach erosion is a serious problem, with 97% of inhabited islands reporting beach erosion and the uncontrolled disposal of solid wastes, including medical waste, is a threat to coastal and marine ecosystems. The environmental impact of tourism and fisheries activities is often managed to a high standard. On the other hand, human settlements development, transportation and energy projects are undertaken without adequate environmental management and there are no set environmental standards for these sectors.

Climate change Considerations
Climate-related hazards, such as accelerated sea level rise, sea surface temperature rise, changes in monsoon pattern, are some of the key challenges facing Maldives. The Government of Maldives has acquired global recognition and leadership among small island nations in planning for climate change. It has already set the target of becoming carbon-neutral in a decade. Similarly, coastal zone management is now envisaged as a part of national policy to support and strengthen adaptation to impacts of climate change. One of the four objectives of the National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA) is to reduce the degree of adverse effects of climate change. The Detailed Island Risk Assessment in Maldives: Natural Hazard and Physical Vulnerability Assessment Report developed by UNDP Maldives (2008) identifies a number of climate-related hazards that need to be tackled. It is nationally recognised that delays in the immediate implementation of the initial measures required for adaptation to climate change may lead to more serious economic consequences. The Maldives MFF National Strategy and Action Plan (NSAP) reflects many of these considerations and climate change related actions are mainstreamed in the prioritised strategic actions.

MFF’s priorities in Maldives

• Development of a national framework for ICM.
• Mainstreaming ICM into existing policies and programmes, as well as tackling overlapping institutional mandates and regulations.
• Capacity building on climate change mitigation and adaptation, GIS, hands-on and field-oriented staff training in data collection and compilation, analysis and interpretation, report writing, project cycle management, awareness raising and outreach.
• Filling the gaps in basic information (especially on Marine and Coastal Protected Areas).
• Development of protocols for data collection and standardization of data, as well as for exploring the establishment of data repositories.

MFF’s programme of work in Maldives
MFF’s work in Maldives is overseen by a National Coordination Body (NCB Maldives), which is composed of members from a range of governmental departments and inter-governmental organizations. A National Strategy and Action Plan (NSAP) guides the work of the NCB. The national Situation Analysis and national planning documents developed since the recent election of the current President in December 2008. The NSAP uses the trends identified in the Situation Analysis as its foundation. It provides an opportunity for implementation of ICM for selected island ecosystems to test and develop models in parallel with the development of a national ICM programme. Priority geographic areas have not been pre-selected, however, a set of three criteria has been developed to identify 10 model sites for ICM that will be selected by the Maldives Ministry of Housing, Transport and Environment:

• Geographic equality to ensure that there is at least one ICZM model in each province
• Encourages co-management among key stakeholders
• Inhabited islands with medium population size
  

Alignment of ongoing in-country initiatives and priorities
The Maldives MFF NSAP supports the development vision of the Government of Maldives and associated policies as they relate to the sustainable use and management of coastal ecosystems and adaptation to climate change in the context of integrated coastal management (ICM). The NSAP provides an opportunity for implementation of ICM for selected ecosystems to test and develop models in parallel with the development of a national ICM programme. The Maldives NSAP has been developed to contribute and complement existing urgencies for ICZM, the National Development Plan (NDP) and the National Environment Action Plan (NEAP) to ensure environmental sustainability, economic opportunities, and to enable private and civil society participation.