{ "title": "No Higher Ground", "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2021/09/maldives-climate-change-aminath-shauna-trenches", "canonical": "https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2021/09/maldives-climate-change-aminath-shauna-trenches", "overlayPath": "/en/publications/fandd/issues/2021/09/maldives-climate-change-aminath-shauna-trenches/index.md", "summary": "For Maldives Environment Minister Aminath Shauna, fighting climate change is an existential battle.", "sections": [ { "heading": "Threat assessment", "content": "- Maldives is surrounded by and dependent on the ocean that surrounds its \"1,200 islands.\"\n- Physical vulnerability statistics:\n - \"Eighty percent of our islands are less than a meter above sea level.\"\n - \"Over 90 percent of the islands report flooding annually.\"\n - \"Ninety-seven percent are reporting shoreline erosion.\"\n - \"64 percent of the islands experience severe erosion.\"\n - \"Fifty percent of all our housing structures are within just 100 meters of the coastline.\"\n- Consequence: limited or no internal relocation options (\"There’s no higher ground we can run to\")." }, { "heading": "Adaptation measures and policies", "content": "- Nationwide physical protection:\n - All \"187 inhabited islands\" have infrastructure protecting them from tidal swells and beach erosion (harbors, shoreline protection, erosion prevention measures), developed over \"20–25 years.\"\n - Coral reef health and resilience prioritized as \"the first barrier of protection.\"\n- Holistic policy mix beyond hard engineering:\n - Net zero policy to shift energy from diesel to solar (\"running on sunshine\").\n - Single-use-plastic phaseout by \"2023.\"\n - Targets and conservation commitments: protect \"20 percent of our ocean resources by 2030\" to safeguard reefs, mangroves, and biologically important areas.\n - Waste management initiatives: two major projects with the Asian Development Bank and other development partners, and another with the World Bank to build \"world-class waste management centers.\"\n - Actions to stop open burning of garbage and improve island-wide waste management." }, { "heading": "Role in global mitigation and leadership", "content": "- Example-setting accomplishments:\n - Maldives phased out chlorofluorocarbons \"10 years before the deadline in the Montreal Protocol.\"\n- Stance: although greenhouse gas emissions are \"negligible,\" Maldives seeks to \"lead by example\" and demonstrate feasibility for larger emitters." }, { "heading": "Financing challenges and pandemic impacts", "content": "- Economic exposure:\n - Tourism accounts for \"28 percent of our GDP\" and \"60 percent of our foreign exchange receipts.\"\n - Pandemic effects: loss of income for \"over 30,000 people\" directly employed in tourism; fishing exports disrupted.\n- Fiscal reallocation during COVID-19:\n - Funds intended for adaptation (water supply, erosion response, adaptation projects) were redirected to health care and emergency economic relief.\n - Movement restrictions and lockdowns increased waste generation, worsening waste-management burdens.\n - Multilateral and development-partner funds earmarked for climate/environment were \"immediately redirected for the provision of urgent medical care supplies.\"\n- Access-to-finance barriers:\n - Difficulty accessing global climate funds due to project-development bureaucracy and stringent qualification requirements.\n - Example: challenges in justifying harbor projects as economic infrastructure and in proving that erosion is caused by climate change given limited long-term local research data.\n - Urgency constraint: \"We don’t have time to wait until a project goes through different phases and different board approvals. If we did, there would be no island left!\" — calls for \"more direct access to global climate funds.\"" }, { "heading": "Motivation and outlook", "content": "- Political and social drivers:\n - Scale and closeness of community make change feasible: \"Because the Maldives is such a small country, change is really possible.\"\n - Cultural and economic dependence on healthy natural assets (beaches, coral reefs, fisheries, tourism) motivates conservation.\n - Inspiration drawn from international models of conservation (comparison to U.S. national parks) as a template for tourism-linked preservation.\n- Governance emphasis: pursue holistic resilience-building across infrastructure, waste and energy systems, and marine conservation while seeking streamlined finance mechanisms.\n\nSource: F&D Magazine interview with Aminath Shauna, September 2021.\n\n---\n\n Content in this bundle\n\n- في خندق العمل\n - في خندق العمل (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n - في خندق العمل (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n- En las trincheras: Sitiadas por las aguas ● Finanzas y Desarrollo ● Septiembre de 2021\n - En las trincheras: Sitiadas por las aguas ● Finanzas y Desarrollo ● Septiembre de 2021 (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n - En las trincheras: Sitiadas por las aguas ● Finanzas y Desarrollo ● Septiembre de 2021 (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n- Impossible de se réfugier sur des terres plus élevées\n - Impossible de se réfugier sur des terres plus élevées (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n - Impossible de se réfugier sur des terres plus élevées (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n- Fighting Climate Change: Maldives Environment Minister Aminath Shauna - IMF F&D\n - Fighting Climate Change: Maldives Environment Minister Aminath Shauna - IMF F&D (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n - Fighting Climate Change: Maldives Environment Minister Aminath Shauna - IMF F&D (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n- На передовой. Лицом к лицу с океаном – Финансы и развитие – Нельзя терять время– сентябрь 2021 года\n - На передовой. Лицом к лицу с океаном – Финансы и развитие – Нельзя терять время– сентябрь 2021 года (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n - На передовой. Лицом к лицу с океаном – Финансы и развитие – Нельзя терять время– сентябрь 2021 года (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n- 前沿 - 无路可退 - 金融与发展 - 国际货币基金组织季刊 2021年9月号·第58卷·第3期\n - 前沿 - 无路可退 - 金融与发展 - 国际货币基金组织季刊 2021年9月号·第58卷·第3期 (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n - 前沿 - 无路可退 - 金融与发展 - 国际货币基金组织季刊 2021年9月号·第58卷·第3期 (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n\n---\n\nSource: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2021/09/maldives-climate-change-aminath-shauna-trenches" } ], "bullets": [ "[Markdown version](/en/publications/fandd/issues/2021/09/maldives-climate-change-aminath-shauna-trenches/index.md)", "[Structured JSON version](/en/publications/fandd/issues/2021/09/maldives-climate-change-aminath-shauna-trenches/index.json)", "[Bundle manifest](/en/publications/fandd/issues/2021/09/maldives-climate-change-aminath-shauna-trenches/bundle-manifest.json)", "Authors: ADAM BEHSUDI", "Published: September 2, 2021", "Maldives is surrounded by and dependent on the ocean that surrounds its \"1,200 islands.\"", "Physical vulnerability statistics:", "Consequence: limited or no internal relocation options (\"There’s no higher ground we can run to\").", "Nationwide physical protection:", "Holistic policy mix beyond hard engineering:", "Example-setting accomplishments:", "Stance: although greenhouse gas emissions are \"negligible,\" Maldives seeks to \"lead by example\" and demonstrate feasibility for larger emitters.", "Economic exposure:", "Fiscal reallocation during COVID-19:", "Access-to-finance barriers:", "Political and social drivers:", "Governance emphasis: pursue holistic resilience-building across infrastructure, waste and energy systems, and marine conservation while seeking streamlined finance mechanisms.", "**في خندق العمل**", "**En las trincheras: Sitiadas por las aguas ● Finanzas y Desarrollo ● Septiembre de 2021**", "**Impossible de se réfugier sur des terres plus élevées**", "**Fighting Climate Change: Maldives Environment Minister Aminath Shauna - IMF F&D**", "**На передовой. Лицом к лицу с океаном – Финансы и развитие – Нельзя терять время– сентябрь 2021 года**", "**前沿 - 无路可退 - 金融与发展 - 国际货币基金组织季刊 2021年9月号·第58卷·第3期**" ], "related": [ { "title": "في خندق العمل", "role": "document", "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2021/september/ar/trenches.pdf", "summary": { "path": "/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2021/september/ar/trenches.pdf.md", "mime": "text/markdown" }, "binary": { "path": "/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2021/september/ar/trenches.pdf", "mime": "application/pdf" } }, { "title": "En las trincheras: Sitiadas por las aguas ● Finanzas y Desarrollo ● Septiembre de 2021", "role": "document", "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2021/september/es/maldives-climate-change-aminath-shauna-trenches-es.pdf", "summary": { "path": "/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2021/september/es/maldives-climate-change-aminath-shauna-trenches-es.pdf.md", "mime": "text/markdown" }, "binary": { "path": "/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2021/september/es/maldives-climate-change-aminath-shauna-trenches-es.pdf", "mime": "application/pdf" } }, { "title": "Impossible de se réfugier sur des terres plus élevées", "role": "document", "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2021/september/fr/maldives-climate-change-aminath-shauna-trenches-fr.pdf", "summary": { "path": "/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2021/september/fr/maldives-climate-change-aminath-shauna-trenches-fr.pdf.md", "mime": "text/markdown" }, "binary": { "path": "/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2021/september/fr/maldives-climate-change-aminath-shauna-trenches-fr.pdf", "mime": "application/pdf" } }, { "title": "Fighting Climate Change: Maldives Environment Minister Aminath Shauna - IMF F&D", "role": "document", "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2021/september/maldives-climate-change-aminath-shauna-trenches.pdf", "summary": { "path": "/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2021/september/maldives-climate-change-aminath-shauna-trenches.pdf.md", "mime": "text/markdown" }, "binary": { "path": "/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2021/september/maldives-climate-change-aminath-shauna-trenches.pdf", "mime": "application/pdf" } }, { "title": "На передовой. 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