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ISSUE 17 | SEPTEMBER 2008

Pe m p h i sNEWSLETTER

Environment Research Centre, Ministry of Environment, Energy and Water,Male’,Republic of Maldives

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M A L D I V E S C E L E B R A T E S I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A Y F O R T H E P R O T E C T I O NO F T H E O Z O N E L A Y E R

Maldives celebrated International Ozone Day on 16th

September 2008. Ozone Day celebrations started with the

release of a stamp set by the President of the Maldives,

His Excellency President Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom.

The special “first day release stamp set” was presented to

the President by the Deputy of Minister of Environment,

Energy and Water, Mr. Abdullahi Majeed. The stamp set

was designed by Environment Research Centre and

Maldives Post Limited. The pictures chosen for the stamp

set were the best four drawings chosen from a poster

drawing competition held for primary students in a

previous year to celebrate the ozone day.

The ceremony was also attended by the Director General

of Environment Research Centre Mr. Hassan Moosa,

Managing Director of Maldives Post Limited, Mr.Ahmed

Shafeeq Mohamed, Minister of Transport and

Communication, Mr. Mohamed Saeed and Executive

Secretary to the President, Dr.Ahmed Shareef.

Subsequent to the release of the stamp set, opening of the

‘Ozone Resource Corner’ at Environment Research

Centre’s library and the release an informative book on

Ozone, the “Ozone Vaahaka” were also part of the

celebrations. This resource corner was opened by the

Deputy Minister of Environment, Energy and Water, Mr.

Abdullahi Majeed. “Ozone Vaahaka” was released by the

Deputy Director General of Environment Research

Centre, Mr. Farooq Mohamed Hassan. The book aims to

increase public awareness on ozone depletion and the

work done by the Montreal Protocol for the protection of

the ozone layer. At the opening, the Deputy Minister

expressed his views that the Ozone Corner and the book

Aishath Rashfa, ERC

will be very useful resources to the public as well as to

students to increase their knowledge on ozone related

issues.

The next major activity of the day included a Children’s

Evening held at Artificial Beach. There were several

activities at the evening including face painting, giving

2 102 10BIODIVERSITY TARGET

“…to achieve by 2010 a

significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity

loss…”

Keep our environment clean!

Save a treeSave a life

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Officials from the MEEW and ERC at the launching of ‘Ozone book’

and ‘Ozone Corner’

P L A S T I C B A G S - T i m e t o f i g h t a g a i n s t i t . . .Aslam Rasheed, ERC

Plastic bags are one of the deadliest man made consumer

products to the environment today. Thousands and

millions of animals die because of plastic bags each year.

However, this deadly product has become one of the most

famous consumer products as well. Each year an

estimated 500 billion to 1.2 trillion bags are used

throughout the World. China alone consumed 2 billion

plastic bags per day until the government of China

banned retail shops handing out free plastic bags from

June 2008. Republic of Ireland was one of the countries

where consumption of plastic bag was at 1.2 until March

2002. USA consumes about 100 billion a year, where as

it is estimated that average UK consumer uses 167 plastic

bags a year. Maldivians consumed a staggering 160

million plastic bags in 2006 alone which is about 500

bags per person per year.

Even though our population is small, our consumption of

plastic bags is relatively high. Nevertheless, the fact that

our environment is one the most fragile makes us to think

harder and worry about the situation more. It is

universally known fact that plastic bags harm our

environment. Therefore many countries have already

started acting against this deadly product.

Republic of Ireland became the first country to impose a

law on not handing out plastic bags to customers. In

March 2002 Plastic Bag Tax or 'Plas Tax' was introduced

with $.15 per bag. The first 12 months resulted

resounding 90% reduction on consumption of plastic

bags. This levy was reviewed in 2007 and was announced

as a major success by the government officials as the

latest result shows that consumption of plastic bags have

reduced by 95%.

Same line of work has been going on in Australia as well.

In 2007 an environmental awareness organization, Planet

Ark, estimated some of the retailing stores like Coles,

Woolworths and Safeway have sold more than 10 million

reusable bags from 2003 and 2005 which resulted

consumption rate of plastic bags reduced by 45% during

that period.

It is time that we, Maldivians think about this issue more

deeply. There is a role every individual, every shop

owner, every Authority can play. Awareness is, without a

doubt the key to change the habits of human nature. ERC

is doing a tremendous work in this regard. More than 30

islands have been visited and awareness programmes

have been carried out until August this year. More

programmes have been organized. Now the question is

are we seeing any changes? The answer is yes. There are

changes happening, though slow, but steady.

Most remarkable change so far came from the island of

Madifushi, Thaa Atoll. Two shop owners decided that

they would fight against plastic bags. The owner of

'Hiythiri' shop said that he would give discount to people

who brings reusable bags will get no less than 5%

discount. Another shop, 'Minarat' owner said that he

would not give free plastic bags; instead he would sell

each bag for 50 laaris.

This could be a good beginning. We need more shops that

follow this lead. In 2003 we spent more than MRF 12

million as tax for plastic bags. This amount could be spent

on much better purposes, if we could reduce the use of

plastic bags.

His Excellency President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and the Deputy Minister of Environment, Energy and Water, Mr. Abdullahi Majeed releasing the Ozone Stamp Set

Do you know how much damage all

these plastic bags are doing to our

PLANET??

jiya ‘08

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Every drop counts: Save Water Switch off and save electricity!

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Mohamed Shumais, ERC

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P r e c a u t i o n a r y P r i n c i p l e a n d D e c i s i o n M a k i n g U n d e r U n c e r t a i n t y - t h e c a s e o f E I A

When Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) reports,

are evaluated one of the common issues recognized as a

limitation is the uncertainty about environmental

conditions. The reports say that environmental impact

prediction involves a certain degree of uncertainty as the

natural and anthropogenic impacts can vary from place to

place due to even slight differences in ecological,

geomorphologic or social conditions in a particular place.

As such the precautionary approach which is about taking

avoiding action based on the possibility of a significant

environmental impact before there is conclusive

evidence that it will occur, has emerged as a guide for

policy and decision making in cases of uncertainty. Such

an approach shifts the balance in decision making in

favor of predicting, monitoring, preventing and

mitigating potential threats.

For precautionary approach to be effective there is the

need to ensure the developers allow adequate time for

baseline studies, allocate sufficient resources for

appropriate fieldwork and post development monitoring.

In practice however the project level EIAs are carried out

in a relatively short period due to the opportunity cost

forgone when the project gets lengthier. In many

countries much of the early resistance to EIA was due to

perceived delays occurring as a result of the process

based on the argument that the time taken by the decision

making authorities frequently exceeded as specified.

However, such complaints have proved somewhat

difficult to sustain because the delays have frequently

been partly attributable to inadequacies in the

information provided by proponents.

Some, however argue that exercising precaution hinder

activities that may not be harmful and have a greater

economic yield, or that can infringe human rights and

poverty alleviation. The first point is relevant for the

relatively new concept of reclaiming reefs for tourist

resort development, while the second point is very much

related to the harbor developments in islands, because

access to most islands of Maldives is challenged without

modifications such as harbor construction or channel

deepening.

With such issues two normative obligations are faced by

the decision making authorities in terms of the

precautionary approach. They are the prudential

obligations in seeking to anticipate potential harm and

moral obligations in judging the adequacy of the

available knowledge. Often sites have been described as

having low quality reef systems for a basis that the

specific site is perfect for environmental modification in

order to achieve a certain goal. It has to be noted that the

presence of lower sensitivity reef system does not mean

that mitigation of development impacts is therefore less

important.

The precautionary approach do acknowledge the current

lack of knowledge about the biology and ecology of

marine systems, and the fact that ecosystems are

interconnected, so that a severe degradation to the habitat

of marine life in one area may affect marine lives in

elsewhere. This can be seen in rivers where new pollution

events may have little effect in a place already badly

damaged, but may progressively damage downstream

sections, and eventually the marine environment.

Without mitigation there is also the danger of subtle,

persistent environmental damage even to degraded

habitats.

Impoverishment of biodiversity in this way is detrimental

in its own right and can reduce the potential for future

recovery or restoration of the area. Preamble of the 1992

Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) supports the

precautionary principle and states that where there is a

threat of significant reduction or loss of biological

diversity, lack of scientific certainty should not be used as

a reason for postponing measures to avoid or minimize

such a threat.

Robert Constanza, an economist at the University of Maryland, has been exploring ways to improve environmental

decision making under conditions of uncertainty. Constanza's ideas is derived from two common concepts:

performance bonds, and bottle deposit laws – you leave a nickel deposit whenever you buy a soft drink in a bottle, and

you get your nickel back when you return the empty bottle. Before a project is begun the developer would estimate the

worst case consequences. The proponent would then put up an assurance bond to cover the current best estimate of the

largest potential future environmental damages. The bond will be returned to the proponent after the uncertainties were

reduced and it was clear that their actions would not cause harm. Alternatively, if harm occurred, the bond would be

used for environmental restoration, and to pay damages to anyone who had been harmed. Such a system will also

encourage commitment for mitigation and monitoring of impacts.

Alternatively another way to improve the EIA system with regard to the issue of uncertainty is to improve predictive

efficiency. This can be facilitated by a predictive techniques audit which will compare actual with predicted impacts as

a means of comparing the value of different predictive techniques. This can also be possible only if data is generated by

monitoring the changes and if there is some set of baseline data that can be compared.

Paucity of adequate predictive techniques and baseline data can have major impact assessment drawbacks in cases of

uncertainty. Acquisition of information on the predevelopment status of the environment is also generally one of the

most expensive and time consuming activities in EIA. Advances, are however being made. In Maldives a five year

regional environmental management project which will include formation of a baseline environmental data system for

the North Central region covering Shaviyani, Noonu, Raa and Baa Atolls has been planned. It is expected that

formation of such baseline data systems will improve the precautionary approach and decision making under uncertain

environmental conditions.

information, coloring characters from the Ozzy Ozone comic, displaying of an ozone message tree and playing of a

snake and ladder game. The evening was aimed to increase the knowledge of children and parents on the importance of

the ozone layer and the benefits we gain from it. A quiz programme was also shown on Television Maldives where

children passing by on the road were asked questions in relation to ozone. Presents were given to children who answered

the question correctly.

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continuation of Ozone Day 2008...

continuation of Precautionary Principle...

Development Project Underway at the Local Fish Market