Abstract: | This report discusses the findings of a social and environmental impact study
undertaken by Water Solutions Pvt. Ltd. upon request from Ministry of Housing.
The project involves construction of a harbour in the island of Utheemu in, Haa
Alif Atoll. Until now, the island has not been blessed with a harbour nor a jetty and is
one of the most crucial issues faced by the island community. This project is initiated
by the government of Maldives as part of its national programme to provide safe
harbours to each and every inhabited island in Maldives. Presently, the lack of a
harbour is not only the biggest obstacles faced by the islanders, but the reason why the
economic growth of the island is not expanding and diversified.
Lack of a harbour has many development obstacles for islands and similarly,
Utheemu is also faced with similar dilemma. At present, the islanders depend on
favourable weather conditions to get on and off the island. In rough weather, getting
in and out of the island is almost impossible, especially for the children and women.
Boats small enough to beach do so in favourable weather while boats that cannot
beach wait in the deep water and use small boats to commute people in and out. This
is the dilemma the islanders have faced until now.
The proposed project is therefore geared towards developing a third generation
harbour on the southern side of the island with an entrance channel and breakwaters to
protect the harbour basin. This harbour is expected to ease many of the challenges
faced by the islanders, especially for the vessel owners, as safe mooring will be
guaranteed. A detail environmental and social assessment was undertaken for this
project and the findings are reported in this EIA. This EIA has been prepared to assess
the social and environmental impacts of this proposed project.
As this is a completely new development, significant negative impacts on the
marine environment will be felt through permanent habited modification and direct
destruction of the marine environment. Similarly, the coral reef will also be directly
and indirectly impacted from this project. At the same time, the socio-economic
impacts of the project will be significantly felt on a very larger group, and not
necessarily the islanders only.
In such projects, environmental damage cannot be avoided and hence the goal
should be to undertake the works in the most least damaging manner. As a large area
of the marine and coastal environment will be affected, careful implementation of
mitigation measures and adopting methods which minimizes damage will be key for
this project. Most of these measures are best practice guidelines and protocols that does not require a lot of money to implement.
Stakeholder consultations were held with various groups, including the island
council and the client in order to incorporate the socio-economic components in the
project. Stakeholders, most importantly the island community represented by the
Island council was the most significant as they have the maximum knowledge and
experience from the daily difficulties faced due to lack of a harbour.
The development of the harbour in Utheemu will have significant
environmental impacts to the island, most of which will be felt on the coastal and the
marine environment. The project takes place in an environment that has not been
modified or damaged significantly. However, natural erosion of the island has been
affected to the southern areas and is expected to bring positive changes to this area.
The biggest threat to islands when a harbour is developed is the disruption it causes to
the natural movement of the beach. Fortunately, the harbour in Utheemu is developed
on the southern side of the island, in a coastline dominated by eroded shores and
beach rocks with a very small sediment budget. Hence, the dynamic beaches on the
northern side will be least impacted. The social impacts of this project will be
significant and will benefit the community as well as the region. The development of
a harbour in Utheemu is expected to increase the annual visitor numbers significantly
which will have numerous environmental impacts. Therefore, it is justifiable to
undertake this project. |