fast facts about the maldives

atolls

islands

km² of land area

inhabitants

% of the GDP belongs to tourism

Sustainable challenges such as remoteness, limited resources, vulnerability to natural disasters and external shocks, dependence on international trade, and fragile environments make the Maldives belong to the Small Island Developing States. Moreover, it is known for the tropical lowland climate and perfect paradise image and therefore, also popular as a holiday destination. In fact, tourism is their largest industry accounting for 33% of GDP. Hence, a very important source of economy for the Maldives.

The challenges

"95% of all food is imported"

Import Dependency

Like all Small Island Developing States, the Maldives import a huge percentage of its food consumption. A staggering 95%. Besides this, they also rely heavily on imported fossil fuels.
Resulting in a large outgoing cashflow.

High CO2 Emissions

The import of vegetables to the Maldives, over 13 million kilo’s on a yearly basis, generates a lot of CO₂. Limiting the number of imported vegetables will diminish this pollution significantly.

Food Quality Loss and Spoilage

Goods are not chilled at all transfer locations and have a limited lifespan, since they are 7-14 days old upon arrival at the resort. This results in high spoilage and quality loss.

Food Sources

The Maldives are largely dependent on food import to cater the growing population, expatriate community and the large number of tourists visiting the country. Shockingly, 100 percent of their rice, flour and sugar is imported.

The World Bank shows that the Maldives can cater a value of 5% of their food sources, as seen in the visual.The UAE, Singapore and Sri Lanka are, value wise, the three main importers for this Island nation. India is also one of the main importers, quantity wise. That being said, Maldives’ imported food comes from all over the world, ranging from Australia to Germany, and from India to the United States.

It makes you think, doesn’t it?

Food Sources

The World Bank shows that the Maldives can cater a value of 5% of their food sources, as seen in the visual.
The UAE, Singapore and Sri Lanka are, value wise, the three main importers for this Island nation. India is also one of the main importers, quantity wise. That being said, Maldives’ imported food comes from all over the world, ranging from Australia to Germany, and from India to the United States.

It makes you think, doesn’t it?

" Food security and adequate nutrition for all is where sustainable development starts."

- José Graziano da Silva, FAO General Director

our solution

Local Food Production

Instead of exporting food, let’s export technology! Through a shorter supply chain, CO₂ emissions and packaging waste will be reduced substantially while tackling the problems of deteriorated crop-quality and consistency.

Self-sufficiency

Sustainable electricity and water is generated. Being fully self-sufficient will contribute highly on the resiliency of the project. The combination of these techniques in a remoted area makes the greenhouse project a first of its kind.

Community

The greenhouse does not compete with local farmers. We set up an education program together with our Maldivian and Dutch partners. An independent community is what we perceive as resilient.

Who will gain?

people

SDG 1, 4 & 11
We strive to improve the resiliency of the Maldives and to empower the local communities. The latter is supported by our belief that the people of the SIDS deserve their own clean, fruitful, and sustainable future. Hence, Resilient Island offers opportunities for the locals by:

– Providing 20 direct jobs and several spillover jobs.

– Raising independence of the local community through knowledge transfer

planet

SDG 7, 12 & 13
Resilient Island perceives the SIDS, including the Maldives, as vulnerable isolated places in the world that are directly facing climate change such as sea-level rise. We take this climate crisis seriously and therefore the project aims to contribute to a sustainable future for these islands by:

– Reducing food transport distance: from 1000 km to 100 km

– Replacing unsustainable food packaging

– Generating renewable and clean energy.

profit

SDG 8&9
We want to support responsible travelers in the world. Especially since the tourism industry is of great importance for the country’s gross domestic product. We believe that the project’s sustainability goes beyond the environmental aspect. It needs to be sustainable in every way, so this means not being dependent on external funding and subsidies.