Associate Asia Director at the rights group, Human Rights Watch (HRW), Patricia Gossman slashed the Government of Maldives by saying that reckless development has worsened the Maldives’ environmental crises.
Noting that Maldives is a tempting tourist destination, Ms. Gossman said that the Maldivian government has long ignored its own environmental regulations and the needs of communities in developing these precarious, low-lying islands.
She also pointed out that foreigners generally only see the luxury resorts, not the islands where most Maldivians live.
Referring to a recent trip to Hdh. Kulhufushi of North Maldives, Ms. Gossman said the island flooded within hours and residents rushed to bolster embankments with sandbags and dug channels to clear waterlogging.
Quoting locals from the island she went onto address the issue of the land-reclamation project carried under the administration of ex-president Abdullah Yameen, to facilitate the airport on the island.
Ms. Gossman went on to add that Yameen was defeated in the 2018 elections, and President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s government has pledged to ensure that environmental assessments are sound, and their recommendations followed and said the large-scale removal and destruction of trees on inhabited islands still continues.
She reminded that while Maldives is not responsible for global climate change, the country itself and other small island nations will bear the brunt of the resulting devastation.
Ms. Gossman also added that the President Solih’s government can’t ignore the evidence of the high human cost of environmental abuse, in this regard.
