Project Narrative

The Maldives consists of 1,190 small, low-lying coral islands spread across 90,000 square kilometers. Its estimated population of 399,000 is scattered over 194 main islands. With high-end tourism as the main driver of economic growth, the country has made significant development progress since its independence in 1965. However, national aggregate indicators of progress conceal underlying inequalities. A significant disparity between people living in the capital, Malé, and those living in other atolls is reflected in conspicuous differences in their human development indices. The outer island communities are especially vulnerable to the effects of extreme weather events, rainfall distribution anomalies, and sea level rise. Observed experiences during the last decade bear out the risks of climate change. In 2004, an estimated 30 percent of the outer islands’ population experienced water shortages, and since 2005 an average of 81 islands had requested emergency shipments of water to be delivered from Malé during the annual dry season. The calls for emergency shipments have intensified as the rainfalls become more erratic and dryer seasons dryer, and as a result, islands’ stored rainwater reserves become depleted. This has resulted on an average of 3,500 liters shipped out from Malé annually during the last ten years. During 2005-2012, the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) spent US$2.4 million (annual average of US$300,000) to provide desalinated water to over 90 islands.