EPA condemns reclamation of reefs to build luxury resorts

The Maldives environmental watchdog has condemned the dredging and reclamation of reefs and lagoons to build luxury resorts and airports.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was summoned to testify before parliament’s standing committee on environment and climate change on Monday.

The hearing was about the continued removal of trees for the landscaping of newly reclaimed resorts – an increasingly common practice that environmental activists have dubbed #MvTreeGrab. Thousands of mature coconut palms and other trees have been removed from natural islands all over the country to landscape reclaimed islands being developed as luxury tourist resorts.

Speaking at the committee, the director general of the EPA, Ibrahim Naeem, told lawmakers that dredging and reclamation of reefs and lagoons caused irreversible damage to the environment.