Businesses play a critical role in ensuring that hazardous chemicals imported into the country and the resulting waste are safely disposed of, Ali Shareef, the Minister of Climate Change, Environment and Energy, stated at a recent policy consultation meeting. The dialogue at Hotel Jen gathered experts to address handling complications and construct a permanent framework.
Due to its dispersed geography and escalating waste volumes, the Maldives is uniquely vulnerable, the environment ministry observed. Relying heavily on industrial and healthcare imports, the country requires urgent administrative and legal reforms, meeting participants highlighted.
Consultations focused on establishing robust lifecycle standards from importation to disposal. Minister Shareef remarked that managing this waste is a collective responsibility across all sectors, noting that enterprises must maintain a leading role in ensuring regulatory compliance. Participants highlighted these protocols as an absolute necessity for safeguarding public health, environment, and occupational safety.
Attendees provided feedback on a three-pronged draft national action plan designed to coordinate initiatives, harmonise sector policies, and expand institutional capacities under the primary oversight of the environment ministry. Organised under the 'Eliminating Persistent Organic Pollutants through Sound Management' initiative, a partnership with the United Nations Development Programme and the Global Environment Facility, the project has already established temporary storage centres in Addu City and Vandhoo in Raa Atoll. A broad coalition of ministries, regulatory authorities, municipal bodies, and academic stakeholders attended.