Fast-tracked environmental approval puts ancient Maldives corals at risk

President Dr Mohamed Muizzu announced plans to develop a resort in the Goidhoo lagoon during a visit to Baa atoll on August 12. “For that we announced and found a party and we have now awarded the bid. We plan to sign a contract before the end of this month,” Muizzu said.

The oval-shaped Goidhoo atoll is a unique geographic atoll that lies six miles south of Baa atoll. Goidhoo atoll, also known as Goidulhu Fehendhoo, is administratively a part of Baa atoll, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve renowned for its rich biodiversity and critical habitats for endangered turtles, manta rays, whale sharks and seabirds. 

Goidhoo atoll is made up of the inhabited islands of Goidhoo, Fehendhoo and Fulhadhoo as well as the uninhabited island of Innafushi. The three inhabited islands have a combined population of just 1,122 people. The island of Goidhoo is the most populous with 583 people.

“This atoll is a separate atoll, a bit isolated [from Baa atoll] and resorts there," Mohamed Siyan, the president of Goidhoo council, told the Maldives Independent.  

"We have a big lagoon. So people, especially young people, really want to have a resort. This was discussed among people during the [2023 presidential election] campaign and people really want a resort."

Finolhu, the closest resort in Baa atoll, is 25 minutes away by boat. But it is difficult to travel during rough weather because of the deep channel that separates Goidhoo and the rest of Baa atoll, Siyan noted. 

“This is a very agricultural island. But most young people work in resorts, either in Baa atoll or Malé atoll. So people believe having a resort will be good – for jobs and to sell agricultural produce and fish."

Despite the president's announcement, Siyan said the council had yet to receive any information about the project, including the location and the identity of the leaseholder or developer. 

In May, the ministry of tourism and environment added 14.28 hectares from the Goidhoo lagoon to the list of locations designated for tourism development. No further details have been made public so far.

The Maldives Independent was awaiting a response from the ministry at the time of publication.

The president’s promise of the Goidhoo resort project was followed by the revamping of the Environment Protection Agency as a new department under direct ministerial control. Alongside the "rebrand," the environmental impact assessment regulations were amended to fast-track EIA approval for “priority projects designated by the cabinet or a cabinet committee”.

Both developments raised the alarm among conservationists.

The Maldives Coral Institute expressed deep concern about plans to dredge and reclaim Goidhoo lagoon, since the atoll is home to remarkable corals, “some of them hundreds of years old that have somehow survived bleaching and defied widespread national and global losses.”

The NGO said it had documented over 12 giant corals, measuring between 15 and 37 metres in their maximum circumference, conservatively estimated to be 300 or 500 years old. 

“These corals are intact, fully alive and have survived three massive coral bleaching events. They supply resilient larvae to the entire reef system and possibly to other regions and may well hold the key to coral resilience," the group said. 

The coral ecosystems in the atoll cover many square kilometres of the lagoon floor. Living coral coverage amounts to 50 to 80 percent. “These levels of coral health are exceptional not just for the Maldives, but worldwide," the Coral Institute observed.

“There is much more benefit and riches in keeping and managing Goidhoo lagoon as it is than reclaiming land and building a resort. Guesthouse businesses will bring in more revenue and benefit to the island than a resort," former President Mohamed Nasheed advised.  "And If you absolutely need to develop a resort, it can be built on one of the islands in Goifulhu Fehendhoo." 

Siyan, the Goidhoo council president, acknowledged concerns raised by environmentalists over the resort development's potential destruction of the marine environment. But Siyan said he supports and respects the wishes of his constituents.

“I am with the people, whatever they want. They elected me so I will try to make it happen. Personally, I am fine even if they don't reclaim the lagoon to build a resort," he said. "They could build water bungalows near the island too. But we don’t know how it's planned yet.”

Local support was evident on social media. 

“The job opportunities for people living in these three islands has been ignored for decades due this false environment pro mentality and poor MDP [Maldivian Democratic Party] policies," a Facebook user wrote.  

"Resorts must be developed, also guest houses too. Currently very few locals are employed at guest houses and most of these places do not provide benefits like service charges, insurance and other benefits."

The development of a resort in the Goidhoo lagoon along with an eco-tourism project in the island’s protected mangrove lake was a campaign pledge made by the opposition candidate Muizzu in September 2023. A few weeks earlier, president Ibrahim Mohamed Solih had also pledged to open up resort development in the lagoon next to Fulhadhoo in the same atoll. 

“There’s no place better for tourism in this region. There’s a world famous beach right here. There will be so many people who will come just to see this beach,” Solih said ahead of his failed re-election bid.

Innafushi, the uninhabited island near Fulhadhoo, was previously leased for tourism development to a company called Seamarc in 2017. But the project was halted by the Solih administration in 2019 with the tourism minister saying at the time that the government did not wish to carry out dredging and land reclamation in the Baa atoll biosphere reserve.