World Bank Loan to Combat Environmental Threats to Maldives Tourism

Text of report by Sri Lankan-based independent Maldivian Minivan News website on 12 June

[by Olivia Lang in Male]

11 June: The World Bank has approved a 12.5m US dollar loan to Maldives to help combat environmental threats to the country’s crucial tourism sector. The credit will aid the country’s Environment Management Project, designed to mitigate threats to coral reefs and marine habitats through contamination from accumulated wastes and sea dumping.

The country is under pressure to counter environmental risks and prevent damage to the natural environment, which could adversely affect tourism in a country known for high-end resorts and world- class diving.

Loan

The loan was requested to allow extra work on establishing solid waste management facilities on islands, a need identified as a priority by international agencies. The cash will be used to supplement the government’s national development agenda by enhancing environmental sustainability in Maldives.

Under the project, island waste management systems (IWMS) will be constructed to reduce the volume of waste by sorting, recycling and composting at island level. The leftover waste will then be stored temporarily. A regional system will then be built on an uninhabited island, as a destination for residual waste from islands and participating resorts.

Risks

“The Maldives faces daunting environmental risks that threaten to undermine its economic achievements,” said Richard Damania, senior environmental economist at the World Bank and task leader for the project.

Tourism, the largest economic sector, currently represents 33 per cent of the country’s GDP and brings more than 600,000 visitors each year to over 90 resorts. But concerns over threats to coral reefs and marine life from poor waste management and environmental damage mean the industry could suffer.

The credit comes from the International Development Association, the Bank’s concessionary lending arm, and has 40 years to maturity with a 10-year grace period.

Waste disposal

In Maldives’ seventh national development plan, management of solid waste was identified as “one of the most pressing environmental issues”. An estimated 248,000 tons of solid waste was generated in the Maldives in 2007 and this figure is predicted to rise over the next five years to 324,000 tons, a 30 per cent increase.

UNICEF is currently working to construct sewage disposal units on inhabited [i.e. non-resort] islands, with sustainable sewage treatment previously only available on resorts. And a report by the World Bank says the treatment of sewage and waste needs to be addressed as “a matter of urgency”.

“Maldives has allocated three islands (Thilafushi, Kalhufahalafushi and Hurasdoo) as solid waste dumps, but management of the landfills is quite poor,” the report adds.

Mohamed Rasheed from the Male Water and Sewerage Company (MWSC) told Minivan News in March the capital’s waste water is “not treated” but “diluted and dumped into the sea” away from the reef. Around 16,000 cubic metres of solid waste is generated each day in the capital, he added, saying untreated disposal was “safe for the moment”.

Tourism

Maldives is known internationally for raising awareness of the potential effect of climate change on the small island nation, one of the countries most at risk from any sea level rise. But government has also faced internal criticism for a lack of consistency in environmental policy on the ground.

Damania said the effects of poor waste systems could significantly impact the tourism industry.

“The country’s coral reefs, which protect it from storm surges and serve as the main asset of the tourism-driven economy, are in danger of being damaged or destroyed from poorly handled waste disposal methods,” he said.

And local environmental NGO Bluepeace recently hit out against a new plan to reclaim land to create 11 new reef resorts, saying the initiative would “harm several species, leading t0o the loss of biodiversity” and cause the “destruction of coral reefs”, the first line of defence against natural disasters.

The tourism sector is poised for rapid expansion, with leases on 51 additional resorts by 2009, which would amount to a 50 per cent increase in bed capacity.

The emergence of tourism in 1972 transformed the economy of the Maldives, enabling the country to move rapidly from a dependence on the fisheries sector to tourism.

Originally published by Minivan News website, Colombo, in English 12 Jun 08.

(c) 2008 BBC Monitoring South Asia. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.