Noonu Maafaru Airport Expansion Project, Maldives
Description:
A planned expansion of an already controversial airport was halted by the Maldivian EPA due to the immense and irreversible damages that it would cause to the local environment and community [1,2]. The decision was overturned by the Environment Minister Dr. Hussain Rasheed Hassan (whose government’s manifesto pledges include protecting and preserving the natural heritage of the country) on the insistence of tourism industry players who are set to benefit massively from the increase in tourists, as well as pressure from the island community who view the international airport as welcome “development” that will further their national profile while providing trickle-down economic benefits. In December of 2019, EPA rejects land reclamation request for Maafaru Airport expansion. However In January of 2020, despite EPA rejects land reclamation request for Maafaru Airport expansion, Ministre of Environment overrides the decision of the EPA and approves the second phase expansion project [8]. The airport expansion project is set to continue unless and until something is done to save this environmentally sensitive and ecologically significant area. Noteworthy points from the EPA decision statement include [6]: 1. The aim of the project “is not a valid justification when compared to the long-term environmental and socio-economic negative impacts that would arise from this project”. 2. “Reclamation works would lead to permanent loss of a large area of Maafaru lagoon, affecting the surrounding coral reef ecosystem.” 3.“Sand borrow site for the reclamation has a rich sea-grass bed, which is a habitat for many juvenile marine lives as well as a sea-turtle grazing area.” 4. “Island is known for sea-turtle nesting, hence the loss of the grazing site as well as the turtle nesting beaches due to predictable erosion, from the activities of this project will have a direct negative impact on the marine life within the vicinity.”[3,4,5] 5. “Dredging the inner lagoon would result in turbidity and sedimentation as well as changes to the hydrodynamics which would most likely result in erosion and accretion of the unprotected coastal areas in the residential side of Maafaru…” 6. “The airport expansion footprint will affect a total of 22,000 trees which is a major portion of the existing vegetation of the island. Furthermore, this area also contains plots allocation for residential buildings, pending constructions. Hence, if the compensation plots are to be allocated from the available land, on the other end of the island, that would mean the last remaining mature vegetation of the island would also be destroyed and Maafaru would be left barren of any of its original mature vegetation.” Save Maldives Campaign has been advocating to stop environmental destruction since late 2017, specifically in connection with the destruction of Kulhudhuffushi mangroves and wetlands to build an airport. In this case, the campaign has been raising concerns about environmental destruction in many of its forms which has been happening and continuing to happen in the Maldives over the last decade [7].
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Basic Data
| Name of conflict: | Noonu Maafaru Airport Expansion Project, Maldives |
| Country: | Maldives |
| State or province: | Noonu |
| Location of conflict: | Maafaru |
| Accuracy of location | HIGH (Local level) |
Source of Conflict
| Type of conflict. 1st level: | Infrastructure and Built Environment |
| Type of conflict. 2nd level: | Ports and airport projects |
| Specific commodities: | Tourism services Land lagoon |
Project Details and Actors
| Project details | 22,000 trees lost; 58.2 hectares of reclaimed reef; 75 hectares of lagoon permanently lost; 3,200 meter long runway planned, of which 2,200 exists; 65 hectares of land already given for existing airport; 1,455,000 cubic meters of sand dredged from a footprint of 205, 000 square meters; 8.2 hectares of land cleared of which 3.8 hectares have mature vegetation and 4.36 hectares already cleared; size of Maafaru island is 119 hectares; 517 hectares of seagrass bed on Maafaru of which 42 hectares permanently lost; 43 recorded species of fish; Hawksbill Turtle (IUCN Red List) affected; 106 jobs directly created, ~40 indirectly created; |
| Project area: | 65.7 |
| Level of Investment for the conflictive project | 52,000,000 |
| Type of population | Rural |
| Affected Population: | 715 |
| Start of the conflict: | 01/04/2017 |
| Company names or state enterprises: | Island Aviation Services Limited (IAS) from Maldives Tuff Infrastructure Pvt Ltd Singapore (subsidiary of Tuff Group AG) from Singapore - Contractor Sun Siyam Resorts from Maldives - Contractor GK Developments Company from India - Subcontractor CDE Consulting from Maldives - Consultants |
| Relevant government actors: | Regional Airports (Maldives); Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation (Maldives); Environmental Protection Agency (Maldives); Ministry of Environment (Maldives); Civil Aviation Authority (Maldives); Maafaru Island Council; |
| International and Finance Institutions | Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) from United Arab Emirates |
| Environmental justice organizations (and other supporters) and their websites, if available: | SaveMaldives (https://savemaldives.net/) |
Conflict & Mobilization
| Intensity | LATENT (no visible organising at the moment) |
| Reaction stage | LATENT (no visible resistance) |
| Groups mobilizing: | Local ejos |
| Forms of mobilization: | Community-based participative research (popular epidemiology studies, etc..) Media based activism/alternative media Objections to the EIA Official complaint letters and petitions |
Impacts
| Environmental Impacts | Visible: Deforestation and loss of vegetation cover, Global warming, Air pollution, Biodiversity loss (wildlife, agro-diversity), Loss of landscape/aesthetic degradation, Noise pollution, Soil erosion, Surface water pollution / Decreasing water (physico-chemical, biological) quality, Large-scale disturbance of hydro and geological systems, Reduced ecological / hydrological connectivity Potential: Desertification/Drought, Floods (river, coastal, mudflow), Food insecurity (crop damage), Soil contamination, Waste overflow, Oil spills, Groundwater pollution or depletion |
| Health Impacts | Potential: Accidents, Mental problems including stress, depression and suicide, Occupational disease and accidents |
| Socio-economical Impacts | Visible: Increase in Corruption/Co-optation of different actors, Loss of livelihood, Specific impacts on women, Land dispossession, Loss of landscape/sense of place Potential: Displacement, Loss of traditional knowledge/practices/cultures, Violations of human rights |
Outcome
| Project Status | Planned (decision to go ahead eg EIA undertaken, etc) |
| Conflict outcome / response: | Strengthening of participation |
| Do you consider this an environmental justice success? Was environmental justice served?: | No |
| Briefly explain: | In January of 2020, despite EPA rejects land reclamation request for Maafaru Airport expansion, the Ministre of Environment overrides the decision of the EPA and approves the second phase expansion project. This decision was taken after dismissing the EPA's decision to reject, the expectation is that the project has been approved to continue [8]. |
Sources & Materials
| Juridical relevant texts related to the conflict (laws, legislations, EIAs, etc) |
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| Related media links to videos, campaigns, social network |
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| Other documents |
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Meta information
| Contributor: | Hussain Shaihaan Abdulla, SaveMaldives, [email protected] |
| Last update | 18/05/2020 |
| Conflict ID: | 4945 |
Images |
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source: https://savemaldives.net/maafaru-airport-ecocide/
Google maps Feb 2020
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