CBA Country

Programme Strategy

Maldives

CBA Country

Programme Strategy

Maldives

Programme Strategy

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List of Acronyms AusAID Australian International Aid Agency BD Biodiversity CBO Community-based Organization CCA Community Conservation Area CC Climate Change CPMT Central Programme Management Team CPS Country Programme Strategy EPA Environmental Protection Agency GEF Global Environment Facility GHGs Greenhouse Gases IW International Waters KM Knowledge Management LD Land Degradation MDGs Millennium Development Goals NAPA National Action Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change NBSAP National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan NCs National Coordinators NGOs Non-governmental Organizations NSAP National Strategic Action Plan NSC National Steering Committees POPs Persistent Organic Pollutants SGP Small Grants Programme SoE State of the Environment UNCBD UN Convention on Biodiversity UNDAF UN Development Assistance Framework UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNEP United Nations Environment Programme UNFCCC United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

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List of Tables and Figures Table 1: Relationship between CBA global Programme objectives/outcomes and CBA Maldives Programme Table 2: Existing pressures on the sectors and anticipated pressures and risks from climate change Table 3: Community project typologies Figure 1: Map of Maldives

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1. Overall CBA Country Programme Strategy (CCPS) Summary:

The CBA Country Programme Strategy for Maldives aims to provide information and guidance for potential beneficiaries and all relevant stakeholders for participating in the programme. The Maldives, situated in the Indian Ocean comprises a double chain of some 1190 islands distributed into 26 geographical atolls. Of these islands 193 are inhabited, 93 are tourist resorts and 55 are used for industrial, agricultural or other activity. The islands in general are very small with only 33 having a land area bigger than 1km2 with an average elevation of less than 1m above sea level. The total land area is estimated at approximately 235 km2. The climate of the Maldives is governed by the Indian Ocean monsoon regime –with the drier north east monsoon dominating from January to March and the wetter and stormier south-west monsoon from May to December. Average air temperature is about 28oC and sea surface temperatures are between 28-29oC. The Maldivian population is estimated at 319, 740 (2010) growing at an annual rate of 1.76% per annum. 56% is comprised of children and youth. With less than 1% of the total area land being suitable for human habitation, population growth has far more serious consequences here than many other countries in the world. The Maldives relies totally on coastal and marine resources for subsistence and its economic development. Tourism and fishing are the major economic activities, contributing 27 % and 6.6 % (2009 estimates) to the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) respectively. The fisheries sector is particularly important in outer atolls and accounts for 20% of employment. Fishery is focused on tuna and reef fish such as grouper, snapper and aquarium fish. Agriculture is carried out mainly at subsistence level, as land is scarce and the soil is poor. Rural populations normally grow crops (mainly leaf vegetables, chilies, fruits (watermelon, papaya, coconut) and a variety of root crops) in their home gardens or in leased uninhabited islands. The agricultural sector forms a significant part of rural communities’ livelihoods and income. Until recently the lifestyles of the Maldivians had little direct impact on the environment. The main environmental impacts included the mining of coral and coral sand in the absence of other building materials and deforestation induced by the need for fuel wood. These activities were then generally sustainable since human populations were relatively small and stable. Environmental vulnerability and fragility was further highlighted by the Indian Ocean tsunami which hit Maldives on 26 December, 2004. It was a nation-wide disaster which caused severe damage to the physical infrastructure of many islands, especially to those in the tourism and fisheries sector. Total damages are estimated to be US$470 million, 62% of GDP, not reflecting the indirect cost of environmental damage including substantial soil erosion and salinization of aquifers on many affected islands (World Bank, ADB & UN system 2005). For a low lying island state such as the Maldives climate change and its implications are an urgent concern, which, in the worst case scenario threatens even the very existence of the country through sea level rise. More immediate impacts would be felt through climate variability and extreme weather events on fragile coral reefs and coastal zone, fisheries, tourism, coastal areas, freshwater, agriculture, infrastructure and livelihoods. Maldives contributes very little to the global green house gas emissions (GHGs) but stands to

5 be greatly impacted by the consequences of climate change. Hence, adaptation to climate change is an essential and immediate need, and may be achieved through integrating climate risk and resilience building into development and disaster risk management. Mitigation is high on the national agenda in line with the government’s vision to achieve carbon neutrality by 2020. The largest contribution to GHGs comes from generation of electricity for industrial and domestic uses, with energy for desalination representing the highest increase, followed by transport and waste sectors. Mitigation could focus on improving energy efficiency, switching to renewable energy, cleaner transport and carbon sequestration. Overall, the main objective of CBA Maldives is to contribute to reducing vulnerability, increasing resilience and the adaptive capacity of communities to the negative impacts of climate change. Building the capacity of relevant stakeholders, in particular, vulnerable communities, NGOs and CBOs, policy makers and local authorities to understand and integrate climate risks and implement CBA projects is another objective. While Maldives is vulnerable to multiple impacts of climate change, CBA Maldives will focus on adaptation to climate change impacts within two priority sectors: freshwater resources and coastal zone, with emphasis on beaches. These two sectors are analyzed in detail and noted to be of direct importance to communities. Adaptive measures at community level contributing to their resilience will be piloted and adopted. In addition, the sectors of freshwater and coastal zone also highlight cross-cutting issues of importance such as human health, food security, gender issues and sustainable livelihoods. Together with capacity building of stakeholders to understand climate change risk and integrate adaptation, a plethora of potential adaptive activities that can be implemented as projects are presented will be generated. Furthermore, a strategy for feeding lessons learnt to climate proof policy making and translating existing policies to action on the ground will be explored in CBA Maldives.

a. Objectives and Impact Indicators:

The Maldives is a Small Island Developing State (SIDS), with a population about 310 000 (2010), scattered over some 198 islands in central Indian Ocean. It is vulnerable to environmental and climate change factors, which is further compounded by social and economic factors. Considering that nearly 80 percent of the nation is 1.5 meters below mean sea level, with a total land area of only 235 km2, climate change is an existential threat to the nation.

Beyond the risk of rising sea level, the Maldives is already experiencing the impact of climate change on many other fronts. In recent years, it has been experiencing high frequency, low impact hydro-meteorological disasters due to changes in weather patterns, causing storm surges and flooding, both coastal and rain induced flooding. More than 97% of inhabited islands reported beach erosion in 2004, of which 64% reported severe beach erosion. Longer dry periods have resulted in shortages of traditional water supplies from rainwater harvesting. Change in temperature could affect the patterns of disease transmission as seen by recent increase of dengue incidences.

The Maldives’ economy relies heavily on tourism and fisheries, both of which are vulnerable to climate change. Rising sea temperatures changes migratory patterns of tuna which is the main catch of Maldivian fishery. Rising sea temperatures and levels could also threaten the tourism industry as coral reefs, which is one of the main attractions, are adversely affected and infrastructure investments are damaged.

Another area where the Maldives is vulnerable to climate change is food security. The Maldivians rely heavily on imports for its diet. In the face of long term climate change impacts on global agricultural systems, it is important for domestic agricultural production in Maldives to reach its full potential in order to directly increase food security. Maldives has yet to achieve Millennium Development Goal 7, which

6 relates to environmental sustainability. Climate change impacts have the potential to reverse achievements gained in the past decades and progress towards achieving all the MDGs.

The NAPA of Maldives (2007) identified that one of the key barrier to implementation of adaptation strategies are weak institutions. Although the adaptation strategies are clear, most of the organizations lack strategic direction and human, financial and technical resources to implement them. Furthermore, lack of knowledge, education and awareness among the public on the science and impacts of climate change tends to reduce the demand the public place on the government and private sector to supply adaptation and mitigation to climate change activities with resources (NAPA 2007).

The Constitution mandates the protection of the environment as a key human right, while the government recognizes environment and climate change as a crosscutting development theme, particularly given its pivotal role in the economy. Achieving carbon neutrality by 2020 is another goal of the government. With this background, the main objectives of the Maldives CBA programme, which is tied closely with the overall SIDS CBA programme document, are:

i) To improve the adaptive capacity and resilience of communities, thereby to reduce

vulnerability to the adverse effects of climate change risks ii) To build capacity and strengthen NGOs and CBOs to design and implement

community based adaptation measures iii) To include lessons and practices from SIDS CBA initiatives in relevant national

and sub-national policies and development programmes; iv) To upscale and replicate good CBA practices and document these in print and

audio-visual media for knowledge sharing

CBA Maldives will aim to achieve the above objectives by supporting the formulation of pilot projects in the priority sectors in direct consultation and participation with communities; based on priorities identified at national level assessments, and in particular as a contribution of the CBA programme in Maldives to the operationalization of the NAPA Maldives. The expected impact indicators are:

i) Number of stakeholders at community level (e.g. businesses, community

representatives, CBOs, NGOs) with improved resilience and capacity to adapt to selected impacts of climate change

ii) Number of communities that have mainstreamed CBA into their livelihoods and development strategies

iii) Number of stakeholders provided with training in climate risk management and increased capacity to formulate and implement CBA projects

iv) Number of cases of effective inclusion of measures to respond to climate risks in policies and programmes supporting development and environmental conservation and management.

v) Percentage of population covered by awareness building programmes to increase understanding of risks associated with climate change among general public and key stakeholder groups.

7 TABLE 1: RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CBA GLOBAL PROGRAMME OBJECTIVES/ OUTCOMES AND CBA MALDIVES PROGRAMME

CBA Programme Outcomes Objectives of the CCPS

Maldives Impact indicators

1 Realization and mainstreaming of adaptation to climate change at community levels

To improve the adaptive capacity and resilience of communities, thereby to reduce vulnerability to the adverse effects of climate change risks

Number of stakeholders at community level (e.g. businesses, community representatives, CBOs, NGOs) with improved resilience and capacity to adapt to selected impacts of climate change

2 Capacity strengthening among NGOs and CBOs for designing and implementing community based adaptation measures undertaken and climate change adaptation mainstreamed at the community level

To build capacity and strengthen NGOs and CBOs to design and implement community based adaptation measures

Number of stakeholders provided with training in climate risk management and increased capacity to formulate and implement CBA projects Number of communities that have mainstreamed CBA into their livelihoods and development strategies

3 Lessons and practices from SIDS CBA initiatives included in relevant national and sub national policies and development programmes

To include lessons and practices from SIDS CBA initiatives in relevant national and sub-national policies and development programmes

Number of cases of effective inclusion of measures to respond to climate risks in policies and programmes supporting development and environmental conservation and management.

4 Up scaling practices and sharing knowledge for increased up take of community based adaptation experiences from SIDS CBA documented for replication purposes

To upscale and replicate good CBA practices and document these in print and audio-visual form for knowledge sharing

Number of projects up-scaled and replicated based on knowledge shared

b. Sectoral Focus:

Climate change will exacerbate many of the existing environmental and natural resource problems. Based on national assessments (UNFCCC national communications, NAPA, etc.) and recent experiences reported from across the country, CBA Maldives will focus on the two main sectors of fresh water resources and coastal zone, with emphasis on beaches. 1. Freshwater resources

With no surface fresh water bodies as rivers and lakes, people of the Maldives relies heavily on the ground water from aquifers. These are very limited – confined to an underground ‘freshwater lens’ or aquifer in each island comprised of a freshwater zone separated by a transition zone over the underlying seawater. This lens is found 1.0 – 1.5 metres below the land surface and changes continuously with the tide. Water availability depends upon the rate of abstraction and recharge by rain, and in most islands the aquifers have been depleted due to over extraction. During the dry season, up to 25 % of household in all atolls report a shortage of water (MHAHE, 2002). Additionally, due to the porous nature of the soil and poor sewerage and waste disposal methods, the water is susceptible to pollution and contamination. In total, in 162 of the inhabited islands, the groundwater is not suitable for drinking (MHAHE, 2004). Traditionally, people depended on shallow wells to get access to the groundwater lens for drinking water. However, 90% of the atoll households now use rainwater as the principal source of drinking water. Currently, the main source of freshwater in Malé, and most of the tourist resorts is from desalination. This is a costly option that produces highly saline waste and energy consumed in the production contributes to

8 increased greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In view of the declining quality and supply of fresh water in the country, high priority is now given to increasing rainwater harvesting by construction of storage tanks at both the community and individual household levels (MHAHE, 2002). Bottled water production by private companies is also on the rise as demand for freshwater continues to increase, adding to the problem of plastic waste.

Adequate sanitation systems are installed in greater Male’ area and a few islands only. The prevailing systems of sewerage disposal in most islands are onsite sanitation systems using septic tanks and soak-pits).These systems are badly maintained leading to contamination of groundwater and pollution of the marine environment through discharge of raw sewage directly into the sea.

It has been observed that the country is experiencing longer dry periods, leading to more frequent and intense water shortages.

2. Coastal zone and beaches

Land is the scarcest resource in the Maldives, comprising only 1% of the total reef area 21,436 km2 and fragmented over the 1200 small islands with an average elevation of 1-1.5m above sea level. Furthermore, given the small size of the islands – 96% of the islands are less than 1km2 in area, the whole land area can be considered coastal zone. Coastal zone and beaches are naturally dynamic with accretion and erosion patterns depending on complex interplay of oceanographic, climatic, geological, biological and terrestrial processes compounded by human activities. Land use in the Maldives revolves around 6 main types of utilization: human settlements, infrastructure islands (e.g. airport, waste disposal, oil storage), economic (tourism, agriculture, fisheries), stewardship or varuvaa, recreation and administrative (e.g. defense). Population increase remains the main pressure on land, despite consistently falling population growth rates, for instance: 3.4 in the 1990s to 1.6 in 2006. The impacts of population increases are more pronounced due to the small land area of the islands, leading to increased competition for the utilization of the little available land and encroachment of beaches for human settlements and other needs. The capital Male’ presents an extreme example with a density of approximately 48,000 people per km2. Apart from Male’, a number of islands in the outer atolls also experience overcrowding. In 2006, 21 islands were found to have a density higher than 50 persons per hectare (Shaig 2006). To accommodate the growing population and cater for housing and other needs, land reclamation has been practiced since history and population consolidation to bigger or less vulnerable islands has been implemented in recent years, notably in the wake of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Population pressures, changing consumption patterns, limited technical and human capacity and the uneven distribution of population over widely dispersed islands also create another major hazard to beaches: pollution by increased generation of waste and improper waste management. Solid waste generated in the greater Male’, area including all the resorts in Male’ atoll as well as few resorts in other atolls are transported to the designated waste management island located near the centre- Thilafushi. Inhabited islands either dump or burn their waste somewhere, usually at the periphery whether at a designated waste management centre, the beach or own backyard. Municipal waste dumps are located within 100m of the coastline, on the ocean-ward side of the island. There is no systematic sorting, segregation or recycling, nor is there any established mechanism or system to deal with hazardous waste including POPs. It is extremely important that adaptation measures focused on coastal zone management include this issue, a priority area identified by all communities in the Maldives.

9 As can be seen from the above discussions, the low-lying, small land area of islands makes it extremely vulnerable to impacts of climate change and sea level rise. The protection of these low-lying small islands (highest point recorded is a 4.0m beach ridge in Fuvahmulah) from high waves and severe erosion is important for sustaining these precious land resources and their vital uses. The natural house reefs surrounding the islands provide this protection function. The local name given for the house reef, thoshi , shows that the local communities consider the house reef as part of the island system. A thoshi also means an outer shell and is used for an egg shell, the bark of a tree or the skin of fruits and vegetables. In accordance with the local classification of the island system, adaptation measures for land resources should be extended to include the natural house reef and its functions. Other coastal measures that could also be implemented are increasing the green belt surrounding the islands. The experiences from the tsunami of 2004 have shown the importance of maintaining beach and shoreline vegetation. Vulnerability Assessment:

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 2007) projects that the global atmospheric temperature will rise by 0.2oC per decade for the next two decades and global sea level will rise by 18-38 cm (low estimate scenario) and 26-59 cm (high scenario). For Maldives, a long term trend of sea level rise of 1.7mm/year has been observed and is predicted continue (SoE 2011). Detailed risk assessment for has been carried out only for a few selected islands to date. As recognized in the CBA project document, in most SIDS, there is a lack of baseline information for understanding the complex interplay between and within natural and human systems. Maldives is no exception. Therefore, there is a considerable gap in information on likely changes in climate and human systems at the small-island scale.

i) Freshwater resources

The primary problem to be addressed in this sector is that of a significant, climate change-induced decline of freshwater security that is affecting vulnerable communities in Maldives. As surface freshwater is generally lacking throughout the country, the key problems pertaining to long-term freshwater security relate to the management of increasingly variable rainwater resources and increasingly saline and polluted groundwater.

As the islands have a precarious hydrological system, with the predicted sea level rise and during periods of wave-induced flooding, there is a very high risk of saltwater intrusion into the freshwater lens. Salinization of groundwater would affect the quality of life in the islands as people depend on groundwater for washing, bathing and other non-potable uses. Saltwater intrusion would also affect soil and vegetation causing impacts on agriculture and terrestrial ecosystems. Rainwater is the main source of drinking water in the atolls. The annual average rainfall for Maldives is 2,124mm. Southern atolls on average receive 2,277mm of rainfall annually while northern atolls receive 1,786mm. Lowest annual rainfall recorded in the last 30 years is 1,346 mm in 2002 at Hanimaadhoo Weather Station in Haa Dhaalu Atoll (north) and the highest is 3,185mm in 1978 at Gan in Seenu Atoll. Considerable inter- annual variation in rainfall from1407 to 2711has been observed over the last 14 years (SoE 2011). Highest rainfall is during the months of May and October and the lowest rainfall is during February and March. Although the global average precipitation is projected to increase during the 21st century, a marginal decline in precipitation is projected for the Indian Ocean region (Nurse and Sem 2001). The predicted changes in precipitation have the potential to impact on rainwater harvesting across all the atolls and in particular the northern atolls, as well as recharge of groundwater aquifers.

10 Drinking water shortages during dry periods is a significant challenge for the atoll population even at present. Between 2004-2010, each year on average 81 islands reported water shortages. Even this year (2012), 67 islands reported water shortages. The harvested rainwater is collected and stored in communal or household storage tanks. An estimated 75% of the population use water from these rainwater storage tanks (UNEP 2005). The rainwater storage facilities presently used are very vulnerable to flooding and high wave incidences. This has been demonstrated during the Indian Ocean Tsunami of December 2004 when a high percentage of rainwater storage tanks and/or catchment areas were damaged on the worst impacted islands.

ii) Coastal zone and beaches

The coral islands that make up the Maldives are morphologically unstable and change in their size, shape, elevation and position on reef platforms over time. The beaches of these islands are particularly dynamic with substantial seasonal changes. At present, the total beach area is estimated at 13km or 5% of the total land area and the coastline of the Maldives is estimated to be 2,300 km long (Shaig, 2006). Climate change and increased variability are also likely to aggravate underlying problems of coastal erosion. Prolonged drought coupled with increased instances of storm induced flooding will exacerbate the problem of salinization of aquifers, which in turn will impact agriculture for subsistence and livelihoods, affecting food security and quality of life. While Maldives lies out of the tropical cyclone belt due to its close proximity to the equator, there is a clear pattern of northern Maldives being exposed to more frequent freak storms than the south (NAPA, 2007). On average, storm surges of about 2.3m are experience in the north east of the archipelago and these incidents will occur at higher frequency with climate change. Coastal erosion is already damaging economic assets, exacerbating pressure on scarce land and beach resources, and increasing the vulnerability of island populations and settlements to strong winds, high waves, and flooding. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA, 2009) estimates show that 85% of 194 inhabited islands and 45% of tourist resort islands are reporting severe erosion. The implications of accelerated coastal erosion due to climate change is of particular concern given the limited beach and land area of the Maldives and the economic importance of beaches in an island nation with an economy driven by tourism and fishing.

If the predicted climate change becomes a reality with the maximum changes while sea level continues to rise as predicted and the geological forces fail to adapt to sea level rise, Maldives most likely would cease to exist as a nation within the next 150-200 years. Frequent inundations of land and damage to island hydrology could make the islands virtually uninhabitable.

b. Baseline-additionality reasoning:

The table below summarizes the current pressures on the two indentified sectors and anticipated pressures and risks from climate change.

11 Table 2: Existing pressures on the sectors and anticipated pressures and risks from climate change

Sector Baseline Pressures

Anticipated Climate Change Pressures

Coastal zone and beaches

• Low lying and limited land • Natural morphology and

dynamics of beaches • Seasonal beach

erosion/accretion • Sand mining • Increasing population

density, beach encroachment by human settlements

• damage to protective coral reefs, in particular the house reef, through dredging, harbor development or access channels and coral mining

• Coastal modification (jetties, break waters, harbours)

• Non-compliance with building regulations (current regulation requires 100 ft between the nearest building and beach)

• Deforestation/removal of coastal vegetation for habitation, economic and social uses

• Improper waste management, pollution and contamination of coastal zone

• Impacts of tourism

• Increasing temperature • Destabilize natural beach

dynamics • More severe erosion • More frequent storms -

storm surges • Sea level rise submerging land • Coral bleaching, weakened

reefs • Further degradation of

damaged reefs • Increased wave damage to

reefs by more violent and frequent storms

• Increased sedimentation of reefs by more severe erosion

• Increased damage to human settlements and economic assets

• Impact on coastal vegetation through higher temperatures, salinization and erosion

Fresh water resources

• Limited freshwater resources

• Inequitable access to water resources

• Seasonal drought • Pollution and

contamination of ground water aquifer

• Varying rain fall • Shortage of water storage

capacity • Expensive and energy

intensive desalination

• Reduced water quality (drought/flood)

• Changing seasonal water distribution

• Salinization of aquifer • Prolonged drought • Changing patterns, amount

and intensity of rainfall • Water storage facilities

inundated by storm surges • Flooding induced

contamination of ground water

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• Unhygienic storage and handling of freshwater

• Increase in water and vector borne diseases

• Higher temperatures, more demand for water

• Indirect impact on vegetation and agriculture

c. Local Priorities:

Environmental, economic and social vulnerability of the country as a whole is now widely recognized both nationally and internationally. Within these domains, sub-areas, sectors or specific issues have been identified and these can be seen as additional local priorities to take into consideration in orienting activities of the CBA Maldives programme. References have been made to many of these in preceding sections, and are highlighted in national assessments and strategies.

For instance, when looking at the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), while Maldives has achieved 5 of the MDGs, progress has been relatively slower toward achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment (MDG3), ensuring environmental sustainability (MDG7) and developing a global partnership for development (MDG8). These are echoed in the National Strategic Action Plan (NSAP) and in the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF).

Some of the additional priorities in the socio-economic domain include: promoting gender equity and empowering women, addressing youth unemployment and engaging youth in sustainable development, eliminating inequities that exist between Male’ and the outer atolls as well as within atolls in access to livelihoods, essential services and infrastructure, promote balanced nutrition and consumption of locally available foods and improve support mechanisms for the more vulnerable segments of population such as children, youth, women, elderly and the disabled. From an environmental perspective, highlights include reducing loss of and protection of threatened and valuable biodiversity, strengthen resilient islands, strengthen the regulatory framework and knowledge in the energy sector, increase public education on environment and supporting formulation and implementation of environmental legislation.

d. Geographic Focus:

As described above, the freshwater aquifer is threatened in most inhabited islands of the Maldives, with it being completely non-potable in the capital island Male’ and a number of densely populated islands. Male’ has adequate desalination facilities and capacity to address its water supply needs so far, albeit costly. However, given the continuous in-migration and increasing number of visitors, supplement sources will be required in the near future. A number of atolls, particularly those in the north of the country have been identified as experiencing regular and at times severe water shortages. CBA projects targeting the water sector will therefore focus on these islands.

Coastal erosion is also pervasive throughout the archipelago with no particular pattern in severity. Erosion becomes a bigger problem in more densely populated inhabited islands as there is added demographic and anthropogenic pressure. This may be either for basic housing needs or economic activities. As described above, climate change and variability will further exacerbate these problems for the vulnerable islands. CBA projects will focus on reducing vulnerability and building resilience of selected island as identified in national level assessments and in consultation with stakeholders. Figure 1 below shows the map of Maldives and indicates the geographical considerations for projects implementation.

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Figure 1: Map of Maldives

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e. Community Project Typologies

In adapting the target sectors of freshwater and land resources to impacts of climate variability and climate change, CBA Maldives will focus on the following type of activities or typologies. These are indicative and not exhaustive, and any one project may have multiple objectives and outputs. While addressing adaptation, to the maximum extent possible, all projects will also incorporate elements of enhancing ecosystem restoration and conservation, natural resource management and promoting sustainable livelihoods. TABLE 3: COMMUNITY PROJECT TYPOLOGIES

Activities/projects to be supported under CBA Maldives

Freshwater resources Coastal zone/beaches - Establishing baselines through scientific and technical assessments on target islands - Acquire appropriate sewage treatment and disposal technologies and promote good practices to protect water resources. - Increase safe rainwater harvesting and storage at household level - Establish and promote communal water harvesting, storage and distribution, in particular targeting dry periods - Acquire and implement energy-efficient desalination technologies appropriate for small islands. - Undertake low-cost protection and recharging of aquifers to reduce salinization from saltwater intrusion and storm surge flooding. - Protect and preserve natural water catchment areas. - Raise awareness of communities on link between climate change and water, and appropriate adaptation measures - Efficient water harvesting schemes specially targeted for and involving women - Promote community based water resources management programmes

- Establishing baselines through scientific and technical assessments on target islands - Promote soft measures for coastal defense such as mangrove plantation or other coastal re-vegetation - Rehabilitation and restoration of damaged house reefs via coral grafting and artificial reefs - Promote coral reef regeneration and prevention of marine pollution from land-based sources - Establish community conservation areas (CCAs)(marine or terrestrial), coral gardens to reduce climate change-driven coastal erosion and increase resilience to coral bleaching - Enhancing shoreline stabilization and adjustment according to prevailing wave conditions through beach replenishment, and other ‘soft’ measures - Proper assessment of land reclamation and infrastructure development projects to incorporate natural processes that aid adaptation - promote a population and development consolidation policy to move people from most vulnerable to more resilient islands - Promote research on impacts of climate changes and natural processes in the island of Maldives, especially natural adaptation processes, impacts of improper structures in inhabited islands and status of sea level rise - Promote community based beach monitoring and management programmes - strengthen land use planning to incorporate climate risks - develop disaster risk profiles - Explore low cost drainage options

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f. Policy Strategy: Over time and in recent years, great advances have been made in putting in place appropriate policies relating to environment (including climate change) and natural resources utilization and development. However, actual implementation of these policies remains challenging due to a systemic lack of institutional and human capacity. Part of this is to do with limited availability of technical expertise in the GEF focal areas, while lack of clarity of roles and overlapping of mandates between various line ministries and local authorities, especially in the newly decentralized local governance structure also contribute to the challenges. Lack of public awareness and education is also another hindrance to translating policies, regulations and legislations to concrete action on the ground. The CBA Maldives itself draws upon existing policies of the government, in particular to those relating to climate change, environment and natural resources to orient its activities. At the same time, CBA Maldives is expected to generate adaptation measures, good practices and lessons that can feed into and influence further policy refinement and making. Hence, there can be a healthy feed-back loop between policy making and translation of policies into concrete actions on the ground. In order to establish and maintain this loop, close collaborations will be forged with CBA practitioners and beneficiaries and policy focal points, both directly and indirectly via the NC and NSC. Regular exchange of information verbally, through reporting and targeted dissemination will aid such a working relationship. With the new local governance and decentralization scheme in the Maldives, the local authorities, specially the island and atoll councils themselves require capacity building. CBA Maldives will be able to contribute to their capacity development through its activities – both on policy and practical measures for adaptation. The local authorities in turn will then transfer lessons to provincial and central government.

3. Development of the CBA team

a. NCC Formulation: Description of how the NCC has been or will be constituted.

The NCC will consist of the current GEF SGP National Steering Committee and additional experts on climate change. The current SGP NSC is made up of a wide range of stakeholders with expertise in different sectors: civil society engagement, climate change mitigation and renewable energy, environmental issues, impact assessment and engineering, integrated coastal management, private sector engagement and corporate social responsibility. Additional members (maximum 2) will be sought who has expertise in climate vulnerability and assessments and adaptation specific to the special circumstances of Small Island Developing States, with focus on the Maldives.

4. Identification and Capacity Building of Potential NGO/CBO grantees

a. NGO/CBO Identification:

The status of NGOs and CBOs in the Maldives is rather peculiar. Although there are over 700 NGOs registered with the Ministry of Home Affairs, few are regularly active. While most NGOs are passionate about the issues central to their organization, they lack managerial, financial and project implementation capacity. As well, there is a lack of wider supporting infrastructure for the civil society sector in general in the country.

16 A host of informal, semi-formal and formal associations, groups and community based organizations (CBOs) are active in many islands. There is no legal framework in place for CBOs to be registered, however existing mechanisms is used to acknowledge the participation of CBOs through their formal recognition within island councils. Women and youth groups are the most popular of these. Almost every inhabited island has a ‘women’s development committee’ whose objective is to work towards girls and women’s development by promoting the rights of women, improving the general living standards, economic empowerment and increased political participation, increasing the number of women with higher education, improving health standards and collaborate with the government for island/ward development. Similarly youth groups, often referred as youth ‘clubs’ work to promote youth involvement in island development, education, employment and environmental activities.

The majorities of NGOs focus on social, developmental and rights issues with a view to creating awareness and providing support mechanisms, in particular for youth and recreation at island level. Very few focus specifically on environmental issues, let alone climate change. Notable NGOs based in Male that deal with environment include: Blue peace, Live and Learn, Eco Care and recently Maldivian Youth Climate Network (MYCN). As an attempt to consolidate and strengthen the voice of NGOs; advocate for independent functioning of the sector and mobilizing resources, the Maldives NGO Federation was created in 2006. However, activity has been limited up to now.

Given the situation as described above, there is little room for being overly selective on choice on NGOs/CBOs. Aside from the major ‘environmental’ NGOs as identified above, the way forward would be to engage with the most active or those NGOs/CBOs that demonstrate the potential to deliver CBA projects.

b. NGO Capacity Building:

Given the limited capacity of NGOs and CBOs as described above, capacity building needs to be an integral part of the CBA activities for the Maldives. Through training workshops, NGOs and CBOs will be provided information, awareness and education on the basic science of climate variability and change, its causes, impacts, mitigation and adaptation measures, as appropriate to the local context. The link between natural resource utilization for livelihoods and climatic factors is another important topic that will be addressed. The CBA Maldives will be thoroughly deliberated and consulted with special reference to the sectors identified. At a broader level, various environmental conventions to which Maldives is party to and role of NGOs/CBOs in contributing to their operationalisation will be highlighted. As far as possible sessions would be conducted in simple, local and vernacular language with use of audiovisual media for better comprehension. Field trips to experience firsthand and learning by doing would be other modes employed to transfer knowledge and encourage application.

Parallel to this, many of these NGOs and CBOs also require capacity building in basic project cycle management from proposal writing to project implementation, application of indicators, monitoring, evaluation and reporting, financial management and administration of NGO/CBO, institutional strengthening, knowledge management, resource mobilization and networking, community mobilization and advocacy.

The training workshop will be used as a forum to initiate a network of CBA practitioners which will be eventually formalized. An online platform will be created for experience sharing and mutual support, supplemented by face-to-face meetings when and where opportunities may arise. For instance at stakeholder meetings relating to climate change or other environmental issues, conferences or events (e.g in preparation for COPs or other important earth summits such as the upcoming Rio + 20, etc.) and marking of special days such as World Environment Day or Biodiversity or Oceans Day, etc. Partnerships

17 will be forged with relevant government counterparts including line ministries on environment, energy, sustainable development and planning, natural resource management (agriculture, fisheries), Environmental Protection Agency and local governance authorities (island and atoll councils). Similarly, opportunities will be sought to build relations with donor representatives, both national and international.

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References Shaiq Ahmed (2006), Climate Change Vulnerability and Adaptation Assessment of the Maldives Land and Beaches, Centre for Disaster Studies, School of Tropical Environment Studies and Geography, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia Ministry of Environment, Energy and Water (2007), National Adaptation Programme of Maldives, Maldives Ministry of Environment and Energy (2012), State of the Environment Report 2011, Maldives National Strategic Action Plan 2009 - 2013