THILAFUSHI A TOXIC BOMB: LEARNING FROM AN ISLAND’S SWM PRACTICE

Abstract

The Republic of Maldives, an archipelago of 26 atolls situated in the Indian Ocean, southwest of India is one of the paramount vacation destinations for the tourists. The vast panorama of esteem verdure and vast Indian oceans. Being a major sea destination attracts a large number of seafarings. The inception of tourism and locals in Maldives tend to generate a considerable amount of municipal solid waste, which in due period became one of the major concerns of the Central Government of Maldives. This paper deals with the study of the solid waste generation, transfer and end disposal characteristics and the involvement of various stakeholders in the process of decentralizing the waste management process and imposing various techniques and initiatives in waste generation and implementation of the 3R of Waste management. In the due process of Waste management, the role of Thilafushi, an inhabitant island has played a considerable role in the processing and the reclamation of the Lagoon of Thilafushi into a landfill has become a major issue for the fragile ecosystem and thus the term “Toxic Bomb” was associated with the island’s name. The involvement of stakeholders such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank has considerably put serious effort with the active support of the Government and the people are covered in the paper.