Maldives Environmental Management Project summary and update

The Maldives Environmental Management Project began in 2008 under a USD 13.8 million loan facility from the World Bank. This project is operated by the Project Management Unit of the Ministry of Environment and Energy.

There are two main objectives of this project: Improve and develop a socially and environmentally sustainable system of solid waste management that reduces the associated environmental and public health risks and that can be replicated and scaled up across the country; Strengthen the national technical capacity and quality of local expertise in environmental management/monitoring.

The Project aims to strengthen the Maldives’ capacity for environmental management through three key components: A regional solid waste management programme for the North Region; Capacity building for environmental management and Technical assistance for strengthening environmental management and monitoring.

There are 46 inhabited islands, 225 uninhabited islands and 14 operational resorts in the North Region where about 50% of the Project funding is being utilized to set up a waste management system. It is estimated that the Region’s population is more than 41,000, approximately one-tenth of the population of the Maldives.

In addition to the Ministry of Environment and Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, the island and atoll councils of the four atolls of the North Region (N, R, B and Lh) and the utilities company are involved in the establishment of the waste management system.

All the inhabited islands, resorts and industrial islands of the region are included in the waste management system. Through this system, there will be promotion of the composting of organic waste at island level, and the separation of recyclable waste for reuse or sale. Under this system, a user pay system of fees based on the amount of waste that is produced will be established in order to make the system sustainable; and the waste that cannot be managed at island level will be transported on a regular basis to the regional waste management centre, where it will be managed using incineration, after separation of recyclables.

Based on various studies and community consultations that have been done in order to establish the waste management system, the location to establish the waste management centre that has been decided on by the cabinet is Raa atoll Vandhoo. The land parcel size allocated is 15 hectares. Vandhoo is an uninhabited island of 39.8 hectares, adjacent to R.Innamaadhoo. This island is located within 3 hours’ travel time by dhoni to 60% of the population of the region, and within 4.5 hours to even the farthest island.

As a beginning of the practical waste management activities of the project, the accumulated waste from 5 of the islands with the most waste accumulated was removed in June 2012, and some islands began charging fees for waste management. Additionally, waste is to be removed from these 5 islands every 3 months.

In addition to waste management in the North Region, the Project also carries out activities to monitor the environment of the Maldives, and to establish a strong system to assist developmental decision making through this information. Some of the activities that are carried out under the Project include monitoring of coastal erosion, challenges to bait fisheries, recording changes to reef systems, challenges to reef fisheries and the establishment of a national geographic information system. A framework has been developed to include communities, resorts and schools to contribute to data collection on the environment in these areas. A community training programme to provide the necessary training and equipment to ensure this data collection will be carried out in the North Region towards the end of 2012.

In addition to the above, a Foundation level 2 course for Environmental Management, as well as Diploma and Degree programmes in Environmental Management, have been designed, with necessary equipment and reference material provided and lecturers trained by the Project, in collaboration with the Maldives National University, and these programmes have been running since 2010. At the moment there are some 41 students studying at degree level on these courses. The first cohort will be graduating in 2013. These courses have been sponsored by the Project, with pocket money given to scholarship holders as well as course fees paid for them during the Project period. The opportunity to enroll on these courses is available towards September each year.

Moreover, in order to increase the human resource capacity in various institutes in the government involved in the environment sector, a total of 26 staff have been sent abroad to study in areas that will contribute to the development of the sector, to complete studies at Degree and Masters level.