Low-lying Maldives seeks easier funding to battle waves

Sub: IR

Sec: Int groupings

Tags: Small Island Developing States (SIDS):

Context:

President Mohamed Muizzu demands international funding to combat rising sea levels.

Details:

Maldives contributes just 0.003% of global emissions but faces severe climate crisis impacts.
Wealthier nations have a moral responsibility to support vulnerable communities like the Maldives.
The Maldives needs about $500 million to mitigate climate change effects.
The tourism-dependent economy cannot raise these funds independently.
Former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom initiated land reclamation to build an artificial island above sea level.
President Muizzu plans a larger man-made island, “Ras Male,” with 30,000 apartments.
- The project is not eligible for climate funding as it is considered infrastructure work.

Economic Discrepancy:

Despite a higher GDP per capita than several countries, the Maldives is classified as an emerging economy.
This classification excludes the Maldives from cheaper financing options available to the lowest-income countries.
The Maldives’ tourism industry skews its economic metrics, limiting access to necessary climate funds.

Upcoming SIDS Conference:

The Maldives will co-chair a Small Island Developing States (SIDS) conference in St John’s, Antigua and Barbuda.
Theme: “Charting the course toward resilient prosperity”.
SIDS, often luxury tourism destinations, are threatened by rising sea levels.
SIDS receive only about 14% of the finance that the least developed countries get.

About Small Island Developing States (SIDS):

SIDS are a distinct group of 39 States and 18 Associate Members of United Nations regional commissions that face unique social, economic, and environmental vulnerabilities.
The three geographical regions in which SIDS are located are: the Caribbean, the Pacific, and the Atlantic, Indian Ocean and South China Sea (AIS).
SIDS were recognized as a special case both for their environment and development at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
They are highly vulnerable developing countries as they suffer from low economic diversification, often characterised by high dependence on tourism and remittances, volatility due to fluctuations in private income flows and the prices of raw materials, and debt stress situations.
For SIDS, the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)—the ocean under their control—is, on average, 28 times the country’s land mass.
Thus, for many SIDS, the majority of the natural resources they have access to come from the ocean.

Source: TH