Paradise lost on Maldives' rubbish island

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environmen...fill-pollution


Paradise lost on Maldives' rubbish island

* Randeep Ramesh, South Asia correspondent
* The Guardian, Saturday 3 January 2009
* Article history

It may be known as a tropical paradise, an archipelago of 1,200 coral
islands in the Indian Ocean. But the traditional image of the Maldives
hides a dirty secret: the world's biggest rubbish island.

A few miles and a short boat ride from the Maldivian capital, Malé,
Thilafushi began life as a reclamation project in 1992. The artificial
island was built to solve Malé's refuse problem. But today, with more
than 10,000 tourists a week in the Maldives adding their waste, the
rubbish island now covers 50 hectares (124 acres).

So much is being deposited that the island is growing at a square
metre a day. There are more than three dozen factories, a mosque and
homes for 150 Bangladeshi migrants who sift through the mounds of
refuse beneath palm-fringed streets.

Environmentalists say that more than 330 tonnes of rubbish is brought
to Thilafushi a day. Most of it comes from Malé, which is one of the
world's most densely populated towns: 100,000 people cram into 2
square kilometres.

Brought on ships, the rubbish is taken onshore and sifted by hand.
Some of the waste is incinerated but most is buried in landfill sites.
There is, say environmental campaigners, also an alarming rise in
batteries and electronic waste being dumped in Thilafushi's lagoon.

"We are seeing used batteries, asbestos, lead and other potentially
hazardous waste mixed with the municipal solid wastes being put into
the water. Although it is a small fraction of the total, these wastes
are a source of toxic heavy metals and it is an increasingly serious
ecological and health problem in the Maldives," said Ali Rilwan, an
environmentalist in Malé.

Despite the growing crisis, Thilafushi remains largely hidden from
view. Nobody goes there apart from workers.

Meanwhile, tourism has made the Maldives the richest country in South
Asia in terms of GDP a head - which is around $4,500 (£3,100) - though
that wealth is thinly spread.

However, almost everything has to be imported. Most tourists can only
be catered for by bringing in thousands of tonnes of meat, vegetables
and diesel oil every year.

All this produces what many say is an unsustainable amount of waste.
Every tourist produces 3.5kg of rubbish and requires 500 litres of
water a day.

The lack of space means the Maldives is now "exporting junk" to India.
"Before, the ships that brought our vegetables from south India used
to return empty, but now we are sending them crushed cans, metals,
cardboard. They then sort them out and get cash for them," said
Rilwan.

Environment issues are a major political issue in the Maldives, not
least because its 300,000 people face being the first to be submerged
under rising sea levels caused by global warming.

Earlier this month the new president, Mohamed Nasheed, told the
Guardian of his radical solution to save his people: put aside some of
the Maldives' tourism revenues to buy another homeland.

The old nuisance.

"Karole Singeur" a écrit dans le message de
...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environmen...fill-pollution


Paradise lost on Maldives' rubbish island

* Randeep Ramesh, South Asia correspondent
* The Guardian, Saturday 3 January 2009
* Article history

It may be known as a tropical paradise, an archipelago of 1,200 coral
islands in the Indian Ocean. But the traditional image of the Maldives
hides a dirty secret: the world's biggest rubbish island.

A few miles and a short boat ride from the Maldivian capital, Malé,
Thilafushi began life as a reclamation project in 1992. The artificial
island was built to solve Malé's refuse problem. But today, with more
than 10,000 tourists a week in the Maldives adding their waste, the
rubbish island now covers 50 hectares (124 acres).

So much is being deposited that the island is growing at a square
metre a day. There are more than three dozen factories, a mosque and
homes for 150 Bangladeshi migrants who sift through the mounds of
refuse beneath palm-fringed streets.

Environmentalists say that more than 330 tonnes of rubbish is brought
to Thilafushi a day. Most of it comes from Malé, which is one of the
world's most densely populated towns: 100,000 people cram into 2
square kilometres.

Brought on ships, the rubbish is taken onshore and sifted by hand.
Some of the waste is incinerated but most is buried in landfill sites.
There is, say environmental campaigners, also an alarming rise in
batteries and electronic waste being dumped in Thilafushi's lagoon.

"We are seeing used batteries, asbestos, lead and other potentially
hazardous waste mixed with the municipal solid wastes being put into
the water. Although it is a small fraction of the total, these wastes
are a source of toxic heavy metals and it is an increasingly serious
ecological and health problem in the Maldives," said Ali Rilwan, an
environmentalist in Malé.

Despite the growing crisis, Thilafushi remains largely hidden from
view. Nobody goes there apart from workers.

Meanwhile, tourism has made the Maldives the richest country in South
Asia in terms of GDP a head - which is around $4,500 (£3,100) - though
that wealth is thinly spread.

However, almost everything has to be imported. Most tourists can only
be catered for by bringing in thousands of tonnes of meat, vegetables
and diesel oil every year.

All this produces what many say is an unsustainable amount of waste.
Every tourist produces 3.5kg of rubbish and requires 500 litres of
water a day.

The lack of space means the Maldives is now "exporting junk" to India.
"Before, the ships that brought our vegetables from south India used
to return empty, but now we are sending them crushed cans, metals,
cardboard. They then sort them out and get cash for them," said
Rilwan.

Environment issues are a major political issue in the Maldives, not
least because its 300,000 people face being the first to be submerged
under rising sea levels caused by global warming.

Earlier this month the new president, Mohamed Nasheed, told the
Guardian of his radical solution to save his people: put aside some of
the Maldives' tourism revenues to buy another homeland.