A. BACKGROUND
UNDP is the UN’s global development network, an organization advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience, and resources to help people build a better life. UNDP is on the ground in about 170 countries and territories, working with national counterparts on solutions to global and national development challenges. In the programme countries, UNDP supports stabilization, state-building, governance and development priorities in in partnership with the host governments, the United Nations system, the development partners and other partners to help the country to achieve sustainable development by eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, accelerating structural transformations for sustainable development and building resilience to crises and shock.
UNDP has been a trusted development partner of the Maldives for more than 40 years, helping to achieve the eradication of poverty, reduction of inequalities and exclusion in areas such governance, environment protection, climate change mitigation and adaptation. In each of its thematic areas of work, UNDP at the request of its national partners provides relevant policy advisory support, technical assistance, advocacy, and knowledge to help Maldives achieve its global commitment on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). With Maldives’s transition to Middle Income Country Status, Official Development Assistance from traditional donor sources have been on the continuous decline. UNDP is therefore working with its national partners to identify and tap into alternative and innovative financing mechanisms for development. This process involves broadening outreach and forging wide-ranging partnerships with stakeholders – including other UN agencies, the government, the private sector, philanthropic Foundations, multi-lateral and bi-lateral donors and International Finance Institutions to advance the country’s development strategies and objectives.
UNDP’s work in the area of Resilience and Climate Change (RCC) unit focuses on promoting sustainable management of the environment and increasing climate resilience through focused programming on climate change adaption and mitigation.
The Republic of Maldives is a Small Island Developing State (SIDS) which faces sustainable development challenges such as small but growing populations, land scarcity, vulnerability to climate change impacts (and other natural disasters) as well as economic development problems due to high transportation costs, lack of adequate infrastructure and lack of industrial development incentives. The Maldives is an archipelago comprised of 1,190 coral islands in 26 atolls over an area of about 750 km on a north-south axis and 120 km on an east-west axis. The land area of the Maldives accounts for about 1% of the country’s territory. The islands are low lying land areas with an average height above sea level of 1.8 metres (m).
The country’s population of approximately 400,000 people dispersed across 187 inhabited islands. An additional more than 166 islands have tourist resorts. Waste generation is estimated to be 324,000 tonnes annually with consisting of approximately 0.5-11% of hazardous chemicals and of approximately 3-9% of plastics depending on location and size of the island. The fact that (chemical) waste is being generated on 278 island presents the country with an incredible challenge, as land is very scarce, low lying and transportation of chemicals and waste from island to island is costly and complicated. The inadequate storage options and current disposal practices of hazardous chemicals and waste, especially open burning of waste at dumpsites or disposal near the coastline, make it very likely that these toxic chemicals and waste will end up in the waters and oceans. In the Republic of Maldives, the tourism sector accounts for more than 28% percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the economy. Tourists to the Maldives are seeking a pristine environment, not one with polluted waters, degraded coral reefs, waste dumps which are openly burning or waste floating in the ocean. Therefore, the Sound Management of Chemicals and waste, especially the environmentally sound management of Persistent Organic Pollutants (hereinafter referred to as POPs) and hazardous waste, is an important element to achieving environmental sustainability. Further, given the economic importance of tourism to the Maldives, implementing environmentally sound chemical and waste management systems would help decouple growth in the tourism sector from environmental degradation.
To tackle these environmental and human health risks, the Government of the Republic of Maldives (GoM) through the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Technology (MECCT) has already taken some steps to try to manage its growing chemicals and waste management problems. Maldives has ratified the Stockholm Convention (SC) on 17 October 2006 and in accordance with Article 7 of the Convention has submitted its National Implementation Plan (NIP) to the Stockholm Convention Secretariat (SCS) on 18 July 2017, which covers the initial POPs as well as the new POPs added at the 4th and the 5th Conference of the Parties.
According to this NIP the highest-ranking national Priorities are the following:
a) First Priority: The Implementation of measures to strengthen the institutional and regulatory framework; which includes the (i) developing legislation for chemicals management; (ii) strengthening institutional capacity; (iii) improving data collection and management systems and (iv) conducting research on the effects of POPs;
b) Second Priority: Developing an action plan to eliminate PCB-containing equipment and its waste by 2025, which includes the (i) identification, labelling and mapping where PCBs and equipment potentially-containing PCBs are located in the country); (ii) putting in place labelling mechanism for all PCB-containing equipment; (iii) establishing adequate storage facilities for replaced equipment containing PCBs; (iv) formulating guidelines for disposal of equipment-containing PCBs; and (v) disposing safely of equipment containing PCBs;
c) Reducing the incineration and open burning of wastes (including medical and hazardous waste), which is the source of 98.6% of U-POPs releases in the country- totalling 153.4 g-TEQ year-1;
d) Raising awareness through the development of education curricula and targeted awareness campaigns; and
e) Establishing a standard Chemical Management System, including chemical labelling in multiple languages.
In order to address the above-mentioned barriers the project will focus on addressing regulatory/policy barriers, technical and capacity and knowledge barriers so that the Maldives has (a) a better foundation to establish a nationwide environmentally sound management system to address POPs and highly hazardous chemicals, with (b) the adequate coordination of key public, private and community stakeholders, regulatory departments, and centres of expertise, and (c) the enhanced capacity of all involved, for the Environmentally Sound Management of Chemicals.
This project is implemented by MECCT with UNDP acting as GEF’s accredited agency. It is expected to support implementation of the developmental targets and priorities of the Government set out in the Strategic Action Plan (SAP) for five-year period 2019-2023.