{"id":46133,"date":"2022-03-25T15:15:50","date_gmt":"2022-03-25T15:15:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/?p=46133"},"modified":"2022-03-29T13:27:15","modified_gmt":"2022-03-29T12:27:15","slug":"maldives-greenlights-destructive-dredging-to-build-housing-and-luxury-resorts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.climatechangenews.com\/2022\/03\/25\/maldives-greenlights-destructive-dredging-to-build-housing-and-luxury-resorts\/","title":{"rendered":"Maldives greenlights destructive dredging to build housing and luxury resorts"},"content":{"rendered":"

The president of the Maldives is set to sign off a multimillion dollar land reclamation project this weekend, despite <\/strong>warnings of the destruction it will wreak on coral, fish and seagrasses.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Developers plan to pump 7 million cubic metres of sand and mud from a central lagoon to build five four-star resorts and extend urban areas of Addu, the southernmost atoll of the Indian Ocean state.<\/p>\n

Ibrahim Mohamed Solih will approve\u00a0the intensive development on a visit 25-28 March, The Times of Addu reports<\/a>. The project is popular with islanders hoping for jobs and better housing but comes at the cost of “significant irreversible damages” to the lagoon and surrounding reefs, according to a 751-page environmental impact assessment<\/a> (EIA).<\/p>\n

In an online meeting between environment minister Shauna Aminath and planning minister Shifaz Ali last July, minutes show<\/a> that the environment ministry was “deeply concerned” about the project’s environmental impacts. But Aminath\u00a0said this month in parliament<\/a> that she “will not obstruct the development of Addu”.<\/p>\n

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The island of Hulhumale, a suburb of the Maldives’ overcrowded capital Male and home to its main airport, is entirely artificial (Photo: Zairon\/WikiCommons<\/a>)<\/p><\/div>\n

Internationally, the government is known for its forceful climate advocacy on behalf of sinking island nations. Former president Mohamed Nasheed once hosted a cabinet meeting<\/a> under water to draw attention to rising sea levels and at Cop26 in Glasgow, Aminath co-chaired talks<\/a> on adapting to climate change.<\/p>\n

Humaida Abdul Ghafoor is a campaigner from Save Maldives, which opposes land reclamation. She accused the government of hypocrisy and sacrificing the environment to economic development just like the big emitters it criticises.<\/p>\n

“A lot of international actors want to listen to the people representing the Maldives but [the government] say one thing to the international people in the English language but they speak something else at home in [the national language] Dhivehi,” she told Climate Home News.<\/p>\n

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A map of Addu with existing land (green), proposed new land (yellow) and where the sand will be taken from (dark stripes). (Picture: Environmental Impact Assesment\/Screenshot)<\/p><\/div>\n

Addu is home to 20,000 people<\/a> on six thin strips of land surrounding a lagoon.<\/p>\n

The proposed development will use dredging ships to draw sand from the bottom of the lagoon and dump it in shallow water to make a solid base to build on.<\/p>\n

This process harms plants and sea creatures both by sucking them up from the seabed and by stirring up sediment so the water becomes murky, according to the EIA.<\/p>\n

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A dredging ship at work at an oil refinery in Nigeria. (Photo: GodwinPaya\/Wikicommons<\/a>)<\/p><\/div>\n

Andre Droxler is environmental science professor at Rice University who has worked extensively in the Maldives. He told Climate Home: “These ships are sucking in everything… it’s huge!”<\/p>\n

He said that corals in the Maldives and around the world were already suffering from bleaching caused by increasing water temperatures and this dredging would further damage Addu’s corals.<\/p>\n

While most of the damage will be inside the lagoon where the dredging will take place, Droxler said it could spread to the barrier reef which surrounds Addu and helps protect it from storm surge and sea level rise.<\/p>\n

The dredging is designed to develop Addu’s tourism industry but it could backfire. Addu has few direct international flights so most visitors take an expensive, 90-minute connecting plane from the Maldives capital Male.<\/p>\n

One of the main reasons they do so is, according to the Lonely Planet,<\/a> “some superb diving opportunities” and the chance to see corals and sharks.<\/p>\n

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Addu Dive is one of several scuba diving centres in the area (Photo: Addu Dive\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/p><\/div>\n

The EIA estimates there will be an economic loss to Addu’s diving operators and four local dive schools of $4.8-7.7 million a year if the reclamation goes ahead.<\/p>\n

“What tourists are they hoping to bring when everything that would bring tourists to Addu is going to be destroyed – its wildlife, its marine life, its biodiversity, its diving interest?” asked campaigner Ghafoor. “The business thinking is from the time of dinosaurs.”<\/p>\n

Other than tourism, the Maldives’ other big industry is fishing and the environment ministry expressed concerns that the project would damage bait fishing for tuna, a complaint raised at two public consultation sessions.<\/p>\n