VP Faisal: Government will continue to support innovative environmental initiatives

Vice President Faisal Naseem has assured the government’s full support of innovative environmental initiatives.

He had remarked this whilst speaking at the launching ceremony of the ‘First Policy Round Table on Marine Litter Prevention’ which was held at Maldives National University’s (MNU) auditorium this morning.

Speaking at the ceremony, VP Faisal underscored the numerous challenges faced in the Maldives in disposing waste in a safe and sustainable manner. Acknowledging the task at hand is enormous, he reiterated the current administration’s commitment to this task – stating that it is fully prepared to face it head-on.

On another note, VP Faisal stressed the importance of healthy oceans and vibrant biodiversity for achieving a thriving economy in the Maldives. He elaborated the administration's efforts to adopt innovative solutions in order to transition to a more ocean-friendly, community-led blue economy that prioritizes sustainable use of the ocean bounties.

Efforts named in this regard include the prohibition of importation of selected single-use plastics and the drafting of a new waste regulatory bill that includes the implementation of expanded producer obligations.

VP Faisal also highlighted efforts by the administration to turn waste into a resource through a four-step process and shared the vision of developing a decentralized waste management system that can be integrated on a national scale.

He emphasized that such initiatives offer hope and indicated that we, as a community, are on the right route and that he hoped to see tangible action as a result of these round table discussions.

‘Prevention of Marine Litter in the Lakshadweep Sea (PROMISE)’ is a project that is part of the SWITCH Asia program which seeks to promote source-to-sea solutions in an effort to reduce marine littering in tourism clusters along the Lakshadweep shorelines which includes Maldives, Sri Lanka, and India.

The series of roundtables launched today aims to prototype policy solution mechanisms for pressing challenges in the prevention of marine litter.

The PROMISE project is a four-year project funded by the European Union (EU) under the SWITCH Asia program, and MNU has been designated as the lead agency of the project.