As part of the Maldives ongoing commitment to sustainable and tangible development, the President of the Maldives, Dr. Mohamed Waheed, has today established the Ministry of Environment and Energy, and appointed Dr. Mariyam Shakeela as the Minister.
Key foci for the new Ministry will include:
Green Tourism– Driving the National Economy
Protect the natural and cultural legacy of the islands through marine conservation, regulating the planning of resorts, limiting the physical development of inhabited islands, protecting local customs and traditions, restricting bed capacity on islands and imposing strict building regulation. In particular, tourist development is mainly carried out on uninhabited islands to minimize the potentially negative impact on the traditional society and to manage the natural environment of the islands.
The country is also making new investments in renewable energy and environment friendly materials and processes to move towards a more green economy.
Tourism Adaptation to Climate Change
Climate change-related risks to our tourism sector and its associated value chains are projected to materialize both directly (through physical damages and losses from climate-related hazards, stresses and events) and indirectly (through reduced revenues across all levels of tourism-related value chains).
One of the most important assets of Maldives tourist resorts are the beautiful beaches, with 70% of tourists visiting for beach holidays. Increasing beach erosion caused by global warming, threatens the attractiveness of the Maldives and the reputation of our country as a tourist destination. These consequences are expected to be felt not only by the tourism sector, but also by the individuals, communities, enterprises and entire sectors that are catering to the sector and hence dependent on its resilience.
Like other Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS), the Maldives is confronted with high adaptation costs relative to GDP. The Ministry will strategize climate adaptation measures to minimize climatic induced negative impacts on tourism. Implementation of these plans will require climate adaptation financing made accessible to the public and private sector.
Carbon Neutral Goal
Energy in the Maldives is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, however, up to 80% of the electricity used on island communities could be derived from renewable energy sources. We have made a ‘renewable energy investment framework’ to develop a carbon neutral energy sector, which includes a mandatory target for the country to generate at least 60% of its electricity from solar power by 2020. The total investment is estimated to be $3bn – $5bn over the next ten years, but the savings on oil imports will be exponential. The Government of Maldives is currently working with development agencies and donors to help put this plan in action.
Efficient and Low HCFC Economic Development
Building Maldives economic development on a foundation of low Hydro chloro fluoro carbon (HCFC) is a priority. We continue to work to protect the Ozone layer under the Montreal Protocol and plan to gradually reduce and complete HCFC phase-out by 2020 and an HCFC based equipment import ban by 2013, or 2015 at the latest.
HCFCs is the main refrigerant in the Maldives. The food industry accounts for 63% of refrigerant use, whereas, tourism, the lifeblood of Maldives, accounts for only 4% of HCFC blends use and to 2% of the total refrigerants used. Consumption of HCFCs in fisheries, the second largest industry in the Maldives, amount to 15-20% of the total refrigerants imported to the Maldives . Reduction of HCFCs are achievable whilst maintaining the country’s core industries.
Conservation- Contribution to the Green Economy
In the Maldives, the natural environment is our prime asset. The Government is taking forward plans to protect this asset and sustainably develop our main economic sectors which are based on the marine environment, a world class tourism and traditional pole and line tuna fishing industry.
