Addu Atoll Biosphere Reserve – Reclamation

Ecocide in Addu Atoll, Maldives

Basic Facts

• UNESCO designated Addu Atoll as a biosphere reserve in 2020.
• Government of Maldives decided to reclaim Addu Atoll Biosphere Reserve in Maldives. The Mayor of Addu City alleged in 2021 that the project will reclaim land for the next 50 years. The purpose of the project is to create artificial tourist resorts in Addu and reclaim shorelines of existing natural islands for the purpose of making commercial and residential land.
• The project proponent was the then Ministry of National Planning, Housing & Infrastructure (MoNPHI).
• The project EIA consultant is Water Solutions Pvt Ltd. The initial EIA was issued in February 2022, with a revised version issued in September 2022. Although the revision was supposed to reduce the damage, there is no significant change to the catastrophic loss and damage the project will cause to the marine environment of Addu Atoll and future climate security of the atoll.
• With the September 2022 EIA revision, the project seeks to extract 5.9 million cubic meters of sand from the Addu Atoll lagoon. The reclamation area is 194.2 hectares. The project is expected to bury 20.88 hectares of reef ecosystems and 98 hectares of seagrass meadows.
• Estimated reclamation locations and areas include –
  • Hithadhoo (90 hectares)
  • Maradhoo and Maradhoo-Feydhoo (76 hectares)
  • 3 new artificial islands (~25 hectares)
  • Hankede (3.3 hectares)
• The reclamation cost estimate is MVR 1.3 billion (~USD 84 million) from debt secured by the Exim Bank of India.
• The project EIA says – “this project is expected to bury about 2-.88 hectares of coral patches from Addu atoll lagoon … the value of damage to 20.88 hectares of coral reef will be about US$340.6 million … and can go up to US$ 851.5 million …” (Addu EIA Feb/Sept 2022)
• The project EIA says – “this project is expected to bury … 98 hectares of seagrass meadows from Addu atoll lagoon … the value of the 98 hectares of seagrass beds … impacted by this project can be estimated as US$ 3,731,154 per year” (Addu EIA Feb/Sept 2022)
• It is estimated that 5,628,350 cubic metres of sand will be dredged from inside the enclosed atoll lagoon, which is 25.4% of the lagoon. This is equivalent to fill 378 football pitches 2 metres high. (Addu EIA Feb/Sept 2022)
• The project contractor is Dutch dredging conglomerate Van Oord [of Netherlands] India Pvt Ltd.
• Van Oord has a history of dredging in the Maldives, which according to their PR material, operated within a 600 sq/km of project footprint during 2016. Notably, 2016 was one of the worst El Nino bleach events on record. Global reports indicate that 2024 will be another El Nino year with negative impacts on coral ecosystems.
• Van Oord (Netherlands) was also responsible for the reclamation of Feydhoo island in Addu in 2016 which continues to cause significant damage to the atoll lagoon, especially the west coast of Hithadhoo. Notably, there has been no monitoring of loss, damage and impacts of that project, as noted in the Addu reclamation project EIA.