Above water Energy and enthusiasm

300,000 plus Maldivians do not stop surprising me. Cuddled in 1000 plus islands in the bottle green Indian Ocean and blue sky  Maldives was one of the first countries to prepare its plan to phase out of CFCs way back in year 1993. That was within 2 years of the establishment of the Multilateral Fund for the Montreal Protocol on substances that deplete the Ozone Layer.

Come 2010. It has now phased out the consumption of the CFCs as per the time target stipulated in the global accord of the Montreal Protocol. And in the same year, it launched its phase out of HCFC (hydrochloroflurocarbon), the last remaining Ozone Depleting Substance. To implement the  “HCFC  phase out management plan” ( HPMP ) prepared with the assistance of OzonAction of United Nations Environment Programme ( UNEP) Government of Maldives sought and received USD 1,4 Million dollar from the Multilateral Fund . HCFCs, mainly used for the air conditioning, are powerful Green House Gases (GHGs). In fact there global warming potential is nearly 2000 times more than commonly known GHG i.e. carbon dioxide.  Hence HCFC phase out would not only protect the Ozone Layer but would also help to mitigate GHGs and reduce global warming. The Ministry of Environment therefore ensured that the phase out of HCFC has to match with the carbon neutrality of Maldives to be achieved in 2020 as declared by President Nasheed. This means that HCFC phase out 20 years ahead of the schedule. The surprises from Maldives do not stop. On 4th May the Vice President Dr Waheed launched the technology road show in Male organized by UNEP in collaboration with Maldivian Chamber of commerce, Government of Germany, Japan and USA. The speed in Maldives creates waves like those created by the speed boats that cross from island to island.

The world was surprised to see the ‘underwater cabinet meeting’ held by Maldives some time back. Today the world is taken for yet another surprise, this time by the ‘above water energy and enthusiasm’ to get the things done. Amazing feat has been achieved by Government of Maldives and its Ministries of Environment. The first ever Technology road show has been arranged in Male from 8th to 12th May to demonstrate the existing technologies that not only protect the Ozone layer but also mitigate the GHG emissions. The real and practical show that lays out road map to carbon neutrality. It is called ‘Ozone2climate technology road show”.

22 developing countries from South Asia and West Asia, 20 industries from the five largest economies in the world i.e.  Japan, Germany, USA, China and India along with small country Swaziland are participating in what I call as ‘Above water Coral reef of Green technologies”.  Room Air conditioning working with Hydrocarbons as refrigerants from China, Fisheries cold storage which is more energy efficient and working on ammonia-a natural refrigerant from Japan, insulating foams for the refrigerated food storage with alternatives to HCFCs from India, Vaccine cooler operated on Solar Energy from Denmark, new ozone and climate friendly refrigerants from USA …the coral reef of the technology is as impressive as those corals under water.

Maldives has unprecedented opportunities to phase out HCFCs with latest energy efficient and climate friendly technologies in its fisheries and tourist resorts. I call these technologies more of people friendly.  What can be more people friendly than one which protects ozone layer and hence the life on the earth, helps reducing the climate change, improves the energy efficiency and on top of all this, also saves money! A real Green Economy is landing in its 1000 plus islands of Maldives.