Here (pictured above by a photo I shot) we have a campaign banner in the capital Male' for President Solih's re-election bid tomorrow (30 September); the banner proclaims that 33 environmentally endangered "regions" have been conserved, which accounts for 16,000 hectares.
Yet, ecocide continues, as Maldivian voters seek to practice the ruling party Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)'s manifesto on discouraging people from migrating to the Greater Male’ Area; this is a policy opposed to the “effas kurun” (“population consolidation” policy) practiced by former President Maumoon and his half-brother President Yameen.
Despite such development resulting in reclamation that destroys lagoons and reefs, Maldivians seem not to understand that the government's heavy borrowing can meet their idyllic lifestyle of living in pristine islands: they demand reclamation of land to get free social housing and launch developmental projects such as airports that could be accessed by all islands in a 20-minute boat ride radius.
While appealing for international aid to address climate challenges, we are blatantly destroying coral reef systems, by burying them alive literally, that provide safety for the islands and which evolved over millions of years.
On the one hand we are trying to get the international community to criminalize ecocide, which Maldivians are carrying out without a second thought, because the Maldivian government does not have any other choice but to cater to short-sighted ideals of its citizens who do not want to migrate to the Greater Male' Area though the region can in fact accommodate the archipelago's population of 382,000, which amounts to just around a small town in US.
It’s not clear what kind of re-education can be carried out to change the Maldivian voters’ skewed views towards their delicate environment.
The following two links provide an insight into this hypocrisy: One is an article from The Edition which reports on Maldives' appealing the international community to criminalize ecocide while the other article from Dhivehi Sitee reports on Maldives carrying out reclamation projects non-stop in order to meet the twisted logic overwhelming Maldivians’ ideas of attaining development.
From The Edition: https://edition.mv/news/13829
From Dhivehi Sitee: https://www.dhivehisitee.com/environment/maldives-ecocide-as-achievement/
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