BLUEPEACE blog

Organised and managed waste disposal programmes or systems are not common place in the Maldives. Mostly in the local islands, the island administration (Island Office) does not provide any municipal service. The island administration or local authorities currently are not mandated to provide services such as waste collection or disposal. Instead individuals or households dispose waste as they see fit, creating environmental hazards.

A lorry carrying domestic waste collected at Male’ Waste Collection Centre to be transported to Thilafushi to be disposed.

This year the Maldives is going to introduce Local Governments in island communities in a comprehensive way for the first time in its history to promote or improve the economic, social, and the environmental well-being of the island communities. Though Maldives never had Local Governments in this form, the Maldives has a traditional system of local government. The present system of island administration is not well-suited to the changing life patterns that it has to deal with. For instance, only a couple of decades ago most waste produced on the islands of the Maldives was biodegradable.  Today local authorities or island administrations are not capable of dealing with non-biodegradable alien products such as plastics and hazardous waste.

Domestic waste from Male is transported in lorries to Thilafushi by a landing craft.

Currently there are limited organised means for waste disposal in the country. For Greater Male’ region a lagoon-fill site at Thilafushi is being used. There is also a waste disposal programme presently undergoing in the North Province which is administered by the Maldives Environment Management Project and funded by the World Bank.

Refuse or waste collection can be the most routine and visible activities of the local council in order to promote or improve the environmental well-being of the people of local council area.

Legally, local councils are required by the Local Government Act to collect and dispose of the waste produced in the local area. This requirement aims to promote and improve the environmental well-being of the people of local council area.  Each local council can make its own decisions as to the method and timing of waste collection.

The local councils or their agents have to deal with all wastes, such as all household waste, street litter, municipal parks and garden waste, council office waste and some commercial and industrial waste. In an average a household in the capital Male’ an individual produces 2.8kg of waste per day and in the atolls around 0.66kg of waste is produced by an individual on a daily basis. The waste produced by the tourism industry stands at 7.2kg per guest per day, and a huge proportion of these wastes are dumped into the ocean.

Introduction of bins to collect waste and establish an economically viable waste management regime with emphasis on establishing a competitive recycling programme should be one of the major challenges for the local government.

Waste disposal is one of the critical environmental issues throughout the Maldives for some time, and environment has been placed under increasing pressure. A number of waste disposal projects have been inefficiently implemented without much success.

A Waste Collection Centre lying idle for more than four years in  Raa Hulhuduffaaru without a proper waste management regime.

Following the Asian Tsunami, various donors actively participated and supported the waste management regimes, by creating waste disposal centres. The Australian and Canadian Red Cross Societies jointly funded a project worth AU$9.5 million to implement a sustainable waste management programme in the Maldives. The project aims to strengthen the solid waste management system of domestic garbage. Under the project 80 waste management centres were built in 74 of the most tsunami-affected islands. Unfortunately, most of these centres are not sustainable, as the facilities lack adequate management with absence of proper waste management laws.

Waste collected near the beach in Raa Hulhuduffaaru, not taken into the Waste Collection Centre.

The bulk of Local Government spending is going to be financed by grant from the Central Government; however the Local Government Act of 2010 empowers the Atoll Council to charge a fee for the services they provide in their wards.  For a sustainable management of a refuse collection programme, a direct charge for waste by weight, volume, or a combination of both, should be imposed.   A variable charging for domestic and non-domestic waste can strongly influence recycling and encourage waste minimisation behaviour.

Six years ago, on 26 December 2004, when the Indian Ocean tsunami created havoc across the Maldives, coral reefs, coastal vegetation and mangroves played a crucial role in mitigating the impacts of the tsunami, reducing the force of the deadly waves. In the island of Kendhikulhudhoo in Noonu Atoll, mangroves formed in a depression of an islet, known locally as kulhi, absorbed much of the impact of the tsunami, saving the island from destruction of property and loss of human lives. However, the mangroves in Kendhikulhudhoo are now under threat as an illegal aquaculture project is being carried out to harvest an alien species of sea cucumber.

Mangroves in Kendhikulhudhoo absorbed the lethal impact of tsunami

Bluepeace first received the information about the illegal aquaculture project in early 2009 and raised concern with the relevant government authorities. The issue was also covered by Minivan News. A similar illegal aquaculture project being conducted in Maalhendhoo, an inhabited island located near Kendhikulhudhoo, was exposed by local photographer Ali Nishan (Millzero) on his blog.

We have received information from our sources in Kendhikulhudhoo that the illegal aquaculture project has reached an appalling stage with modification of the structure of the mangroves through extensive excavation. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has confirmed to Bluepeace that to this date no Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has been submitted to EPA for approval to conduct an aquaculture project in Kendhikulhudhoo or Maalhendhoo.

In 2007, Bluepeace published an article on its website stressing the importance of mangrove ecosystems in the Maldives, and the role they play in mitigating the impacts of natural disasters. We also noted several mangroves were under threat while some mangroves were destroyed by reclamation for tourism, housing, agriculture and other commercial purposes.

Mangrove areas are highly productive ecosystems contributing to the food chains of atoll islands. They are also important to the atoll ecosystems, as they filter out silt, nutrients and sand that would otherwise go out to the house reef around the islands suffocating corals and encouraging algal growth.

Most of the native plants in the Maldives, including the plants that grow on the coastal vegetation belt around islands, are very salt tolerant. This was quite visible in the 2004 Asia’s tsunami disaster, most of the native plants survived leaving dead all the introduced and naturalized plants in tsunami-affected islands.

Mangroves with hanging long branches reaching into sand and below the surface of water absorb the shock of tsunamis. Behind mangrove trees is a second layer of taller native plants, which slow down the waves. Mangrove roots with aerial roots and salt-filtering tap roots not only provide support in uneven soils but hold up currents and storms.

Mangrove trees in Kendhikulhudhoo

Mangroves depressions or Kulhi, protect coastline from erosion and provide a breeding ground for crustaceans and fish. Milk fish is the common fish found in fresh water dominated mangroves swamps, on which the local population depends on as a staple food when the sea is rough and tuna and other pelagic fish are scare. Harvesting and managing of milk fish in the mangroves is done traditionally by the island community as whole.

In Kendhikulhudhoo, the mangroves have been traditionally regarded as a vital source of livelihood. In certain periods of the year, based on nakaiy – the traditional Maldivian calendar used for predicting weather – the community cuts an opening to the sea from the mangroves on rainy days, allowing saltwater to enter. Along with sea water, milk fish enters the mangroves. The opening to the sea is closed after a few days. The community feeds on the milk fish when the sea is rough or when tuna and other pelagic fish are scarce. In the past, milk fish was harvested for traditional feasts and ceremonies such as Maulood as well. After the tsunami, the people of Kendhikulhudhoo said it was a ‘safe island’ because the mangroves protected the island from the wrath of the destructive waves.

Mangrove in Kendhikulhudhoo: A unique ecosystem

Mangrove crabs that are found in mangrove swamps are a vital part of the mangrove ecology, influencing both nutrient cycling and forest structure by flow of water through crab holes. The rich mangrove ecosystems are now under threat in several islands of the Maldives through the illegal harvest of alien species of sea cucumber, posing a threat to other organisms that use the mangroves as a habitat. The illegal aquaculture projects are accompanied by modifications to the structure of mangroves through excavation or reclamation.

Mangrove crabs in Kendhikulhudhoo

In a report Vulnerability and Adaptation of Ecologically Sensitive Mangrove Habitats to the Changing Climate published by National Institute of Oceanography, Dona Paula, Goa, India and authored by T. G. Jagtap, V. A. Kulkarni, X. N. Verlekar, the significance of atoll mangrove ecosystems is highlighted.

“Loss of mangroves and similar habitats aggravate the fury of natural calamities”, the authors have argued, and noted that reclamation of mangroves has resulted in severe erosion at a number of islands from Maldives.

“Irrespective of Sea Level Rise (IPCC, 2001) or sea level chop (Morner et al., 2003), Maldives islands are likely to be under severe threat of flooding due to constantly increasing human pressure. Conservation and restoration of various Ecologically Sensitive Marine Habitats would not only enhance the productivity but greatly benefit in mitigation adverse impacts of natural as well as human created hazards,” the report concludes.

After the tsunami, international aid agencies poured thousands of dollars for disaster preparedness programmes in the Maldives. The programmes, conducted in collaboration with government agencies, have not spared vital mangrove ecosystems – an essential protective shield against tsunamis, storm surges, tidal waves and climate change – from destruction.

Reference:

Adams, D., 1988. Plant life. In: Paul A. Webb. Maldives people and environment . Identification. Report No. RAS/79/123. Rome: FAO. 40p.

A. Nishan. 2010. Alien species cultivated in the Maalhendhoo mangroves. Millzero’s Blog.