South Asia Jurist Volume 02 | Page 12

12

Editorial Note:

This excellent article was written by Safa Shareef with support of a friend during difficult and volatile times in Maldives. It is an important time for Maldivians , and we hope recent developments will bring peace and prosperity to a very beautiful part of the world, facing great challenges (climate change and otherwise) ahead. Happy reading.

350 For Maldives

Maldives lies in the Indian Ocean, just across the equator. Ninety-nine percent of the country consists of sea and has 1,190 coral islands within its territory while only 199 islands are inhabited. The name ‘Maldives’ sufficiently describes the geographical makeup of the country. Having its initial settlers from India and Sri Lanka, the name was known to have come from Sanskrit, where mālā meant garland and dvīpa meant island or Sinhala, where maala divaina meant necklace islands. Although the country is famous for its white sandy beaches and sparkling waters, the Republic of Maldives is most vulnerable to rising sea level due to the fact that the ground surface is below 3 meters.

The sea level around the Maldives has been rising since the 1950s, at a rate of 0.03–0.06 inches per year. It may seem a small figure on paper, nevertheless, a small rise in sea level could flood the country, destroying the homes of over 300,000 people.

On December 26, 2004, at 09:20 am, the Indian Ocean tsunami reached Maldives, with tidal waves as high as five meters. Sixty nine inhabited islands were reported to have been damaged and fourteen islands required evacuation, displacing over 13,000 people and destroying the homes of 15,000 people. All communications were lost for over ten hours on 182 islands, electricity supply and water supply was either damaged or disrupted. Over 25 percent of the islands had damage to important infrastructure, including jetties and harbors that were essential for transportation. The country that depended on rain water and ground water, had most of its ground water contaminated after the tidal wave disaster. Even though eight years had passed since the devastating tsunami, the Republic of Maldives have not fully recovered. Nonetheless, the bigger question that remains is whether the country has done or are doing enough regarding climate change.

Maldives is a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol and had ratified it in 1998. The country is a party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). According to Article 22 of the Constitution of Maldives, the State has a fundamental duty to protect and preserve the natural environment, biodiversity, resources and beauty of the country for the benefit of present and future generations. Furthermore, the State has an obligation to undertake and promote desirable economic and social goals through ecologically balanced sustainable development and to take measures necessary to foster conservation, prevent pollution, the extinction of any species and ecological degradation.

The Ministry of Housing and Environment has the mandate to formulate policies related to environment, energy, water and meteorology, and also to formulate regulations and standards required for the implementation of legislation. Moreover, the Ministry has the task of developing and coordinating projects based on the steps that can be taken to minimize threats related to climate change. Moreover, the Ministry supervises a legal regulatory entity called the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that was established under Section 5 of Law No. 4/93 (Environment Protection and Preservation Act 1993). According to the Act, an impact assessment study had to be submitted to the Ministry before implementing any projects that might have a potential impact on the environment. EPA, on behalf of the Ministry evaluates the impact assessment reports and grants approval for the projects. The legislation gave power to the Ministry to terminate any projects that might have an undesirable impact on the environment without incurring any liability to compensate the parties. In 2012, a regulation was passed providing guidelines on how an impact assessment report should be compiled and the necessary information the report should contain.

The major movement towards mitigating the impacts due to climate change was when the first democratically elected President H.E. Mohamed Nasheed held a cabinet meeting, 20 feet under water, with 13 other government officials on October 17, 2009. During this underwater meeting, a declaration was signed making a demand to cut down global carbon emissions. With scuba gears, the President and his cabinet ministers sat around a table, while the natural beauty and life underwater created a memorable background. The country celebrated its environmental day on the same month, with a wide array of activities including underwater aerobics, under water art competitions and water sports, which continued for 24 hours in support of the 350 campaign[1]. Maldives also announced that it would be a carbon neutral country by the year 2020. The founding member of 350.org, Bill McKibben was reported to have said,

"It makes complete sense that the largest campaign of global action on climate ever should start in the low-lying Maldives. Of the 170 nations that will participate, none will be a victim of global warming quite as quickly or completely”.

By Safa Shareef