"Carbon Neutral" has been buzzing in the Maldives, ever since the “age of the stupid" premiere. The government has recently employed an envoy for climate change and also inaugurated a council to advise the president on climate change issues. Instead of the tail wagging the dog, the dog has started wagging the tail with regard to climate change issues. After all climate change is a global issue which needs to be addressed at a local level as well. The inauguration of this council is a way forward as most of the world leaders have taken climate change advisors on board.
The council indeed has a wide array of professionals who are experts on the issues of climate change and sustainable development. I would like to see this council starting to plan our development so that our communities and their livelihoods become more resilient and resistant in the face of climate change. When I visited the islands impacted by coastal erosion and flooding due to swells, the most striking thing was the poor design of infrastructure in the islands and the poor planning. This is something which needs immediate attention as we are experiencing more and more unprecedented weather extremes. To help build better residential homes which can cope with such frequent and unprecedented events we need to provide incentives to the local community to build their homes in a more resilient manner. Just having a building code will not suffice as the costs involved is a far too bigger burden for ordinary islanders. Hence better loan schemes for home building and subsidies on certain building materials can help the island communities to be better prepared. Meanwhile to combat water and food shortages as well as other major social impacts on local communities due to the weather extremes, we need to carry out social impact assessments. We also need to allocate funds to combat disasters and need to review our preparedness.
The recent water shortage in the islands is just an alarm bell from this ticking clock. It shows that we have an uncertain future and how much we need to do for future. Becoming carbon neutral without addressing these issues would be a green wash. The local communities need to build a resilient and resistant livelihood before we begin a cleaner development approach. Perhaps this could be the beginning for us.
I wish we begin with a better legal framework and incentives based approach to address climate change issues and its impacts, before we move to a carbon neutral scheme.
The council indeed has a wide array of professionals who are experts on the issues of climate change and sustainable development. I would like to see this council starting to plan our development so that our communities and their livelihoods become more resilient and resistant in the face of climate change. When I visited the islands impacted by coastal erosion and flooding due to swells, the most striking thing was the poor design of infrastructure in the islands and the poor planning. This is something which needs immediate attention as we are experiencing more and more unprecedented weather extremes. To help build better residential homes which can cope with such frequent and unprecedented events we need to provide incentives to the local community to build their homes in a more resilient manner. Just having a building code will not suffice as the costs involved is a far too bigger burden for ordinary islanders. Hence better loan schemes for home building and subsidies on certain building materials can help the island communities to be better prepared. Meanwhile to combat water and food shortages as well as other major social impacts on local communities due to the weather extremes, we need to carry out social impact assessments. We also need to allocate funds to combat disasters and need to review our preparedness.
The recent water shortage in the islands is just an alarm bell from this ticking clock. It shows that we have an uncertain future and how much we need to do for future. Becoming carbon neutral without addressing these issues would be a green wash. The local communities need to build a resilient and resistant livelihood before we begin a cleaner development approach. Perhaps this could be the beginning for us.
I wish we begin with a better legal framework and incentives based approach to address climate change issues and its impacts, before we move to a carbon neutral scheme.
