Sinking Maldives plans to reclaim land from the ocean

Vulnerable island nation split over project to dredge millions of tonnes of sand to create land for resorts and industry on Unesco reserve

A controversial project to reclaim land on an atoll threatened by rising sea levels has been announced in the Maldives, with hopes that it may boost tourism balanced against fears that it could “choke the ecosystem”.

The low-lying island nation, one of the world’s most vulnerable to climate change, has commissioned a major shore protection and land reclamation scheme using sand dredged from a lagoon, despite concerns about the impact on this Unesco biosphere reserve.

A Dutch marine contractor, Van Oord, has announced it will create 194 hectares (480 acres) of land, including three new island resorts, in the southern atoll of Addu City – part of a Maldives government project to stimulate the local economy, tackle land shortage and protect the coastline. The scheme will reportedly cost $147.1m (£117m) and be funded via an Indian bank.

According to Van Oord, up to 5m cubic metres of sand will be dredged from a lagoon in the middle of the six islands, which are home to at least 20,000 people. Other estimates put the amount of sand to be removed at 6.9m cubic metres.

Interactive
A map of the atoll showing where the newly created land will be on Addu. Estimates of the amount of sand needed vary from 5m to 6.7m cubic metres.

Ali Nizar, mayor of Addu City, told the Guardian this would cause less environmental damage than repeated small projects, and give the region an economic future and land for the next generation. “Addu doesn’t have land for other economic activities and industrial use at the moment,” he said, admitting: “It’s a difficult decision that we have taken.”

He added: “Addu is the second-largest populated area in the Maldives. It needs economic change, and it needs to have land. It has had three reclamation projects in the last 20 years – this is not a good way of doing this.

“With this project, we will have enough land for the next 50-100 years. Any kind of project would have damage to the environment but what we have to do is take measures to minimise it.”

Although there is public support for the project, an environmental impact assessment has raised concerns. The Addu Atoll was made a Unesco reserve in 2020, thanks to seagrass beds and mangrove forests that act as carbon sinks and also provide local people with a living from diving tourism and fishing.

The report says the reclamation could bury 21 hectares of corals and 120ha of seagrass meadows, and will raise sediment that could “choke the nearby ecosystems and affect their ability to recover in the long term”, affecting local fishing and marine life such as dolphins.

A group of local environmental agencies has demanded that the Maldives government stop the project, while a local civil court case is also seeking to halt the development.

Sara Naseem, advocacy manager at Transparency Maldives, said guaranteed environmental safeguards needed to be in place, and is concerned that local people will not benefit enough. “The additional islands that are being reclaimed are for tourism development, to be given to the rich and elite for them to build businesses,” she said.

“We are very concerned that most of the land being reclaimed will not give direct benefits to the community or local people, and their housing issues will not be solved,” Naseem said.

Van Oord, which won a dredging innovation award for a previous land reclamation project in the Maldives, has pledged to work with local interest groups, use sustainable techniques, minimise silt spread in the lagoon and create new coral – as well as providing seven miles (11km) of new shore protection.

Niels de Bruijn, director of dredging, said such projects would become ever more common in an era of climate adaptation, and could also be expected in places such as Bali and the Bahamas. “This will really help the local people to get space to build houses and other things, and have tourism activities to make their lives a little bit better,” he said.

“Even if we make all of the Paris [climate] goals, still the sea level will rise. So climate adaptation is seeing what we can do to help and protect people from climate change.”

Joyeeta Gupta, professor of environment and development in the global south at the University of Amsterdam, said: “Many small island states are investing in large sand-mining projects to reclaim land to enhance tourism revenue, and possibly to reduce the risk of sea-level rise.

“Such strategies are both positive and negative; while they enhance the development potential and adaptive capacity of the islands, they also create new problems, such as sand mining – which affects the ocean – and greater tourism, which affects the quality of the corals they wish to protect and preserve.

“Many also import labour under conditions that may not meet basic standards of labour protection. On the other hand, these countries are trying to cope with the enormous impacts of climate change by maximising short-term revenues as their long-term future is not so secure.’’

• This article was amended on 23 May 2022 to correct the spelling of Joyeeta Gupta’s first name.

Contributor

Senay Boztas in Amsterdam

The GuardianTramp

Related Content

Article image
These Maldives islanders once saw sharks as the threat. Now they fear the plastic
Diving with tiger sharks off Fuvahmulah brought a tourist boom that has led to a destructive tide of plastic waste. But now locals are pushing back

Graeme Green

15, Oct, 2021 @5:30 AM

Article image
World leaders descend on France for ocean summit as Macron puts spotlight on seas
As One Ocean event in Brest aims to deliver ‘blue diplomacy’ in areas from pollution to overfishing, activists warn against ‘bluewashing’

Jon Henley

08, Feb, 2022 @1:09 PM

Article image
Deadly coral disease sweeping Caribbean linked to water from ships
Researchers find ‘significant relationship’ between stony coral tissue loss disease and nearby shipping

Jewel Fraser in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad

22, Jul, 2021 @6:00 AM

Article image
Lotion in the ocean: is your sunscreen killing the sea?
Up to 14,000 tonnes ends up in coral reef areas each year, but scientists are divided on how we can best protect our skin without harming the environment

Emine Saner

06, Aug, 2021 @5:01 AM

Article image
‘Stereotypes are evolving’: female divers shake up conservative Jordan
Project Sea clears rubbish from Aqaba’s reefs, which is recycled into bags by Palestinian refugees – a female-led scheme in a country where women must still fight for equality

Annika Brohm in Aqaba and Amman. Photography by John Goodwin

05, Jul, 2023 @5:30 AM

Article image
One of UK’s rarest corals set to expand its range as climate change warms seas
Pink sea fan, at risk from bottom-trawling, predicted to spread northwards around coast up to Scotland as sea temperatures rise

Karen McVeigh

27, May, 2022 @11:00 AM

Article image
Nobel-winning stock market theory used to help save coral reefs
Portfolio selection rules on evaluating risk used to pick 50 reefs as ‘arks’ best able to survive climate crisis and revive coral elsewhere

Karen McVeigh

28, Nov, 2021 @3:00 PM

Article image
Back from the brink: the global effort to save coral from climate change
Underwater nurseries encouraging growth of coral fragments on fibreglass offer glimmer of hope for endangered ecosystems

Oliver Milman in Key Largo

26, Sep, 2018 @10:30 AM

Article image
Scientists discover pristine deep-sea Galápagos reef ‘teeming with life’
Diving to 600m, researchers find reefs full of octopus, lobster and fish, raising hopes for corals’ survival amid rising sea temperatures

Dan Collyns

18, Apr, 2023 @11:54 AM

Article image
The last hunt? Future in peril for ‘the unicorn of the sea’
Scientists want to protect narwhals, but local people who hunt them say their traditions are being ignored

Sofia Moutinho and Regin Winther Poulsen

02, Jun, 2022 @5:30 AM