What is the fate of Addu City?

Earlier I wrote about the geographical nature of Maldives affecting the country's socioeconomic development both in positive and negative ways.

In the face of it, now I am interested to know what kind of changes will occur to the future of Addu City, the latest to fall into the ecocide stemming from Maldives’ physical development.

One of my Addu friends told me that dredging and land reclamation are leaving some Addu residents confused as to what choice they have if they want to pursue economic development at the cost of environmental destruction.

The government seems to be carrying out, with the assistance of India, land reclamation along with the expansion project of Gan International Airport, because, in addition to the political support it perceives it might get, it is of the view that this move is approved by the Addu people because it concerns economic development for the huge atoll.

However, my friend pointed out that not many Addu people approve the destruction of their ecosystems at the cost of development, and they seek alternate solutions although it’s not clear what that could be. Perhaps it is up to the government to identify alternate solutions before they embark on environmentally destructive projects like the destruction of mangrove ecosystems for the development of an airport in Kulhudhuhfushi island.

My Addu friend told me that everyone is aware of the ecocide resulting from land reclamation.

Perhaps there are alternate ways that Maldives could usher in modern development and I wonder whether that can be done without dredging and land reclamation in a land scarce country like Maldives.

I myself cannot make up my mind what the alternate solutions could be. For example, some islands sought the development of harbors because jetties and quays are not convenient when the lagoon is rough, and therefore the islands need modern harbors that can safeguard docked vessels and provide a calm means of boarding the islands.

This is one of the dilemmas about Maldives' development that leaves me perplexed with no easy answers. It makes me wonder whether we have to embrace necessary evils in order to survive in our geographically dispersed and disadvantaged existence.