[{"bbox": [96, 152, 1158, 363], "category": "Text", "text": "National Solid Waste Management Policy 2015 and the Single-Use Plastic Phase-out Plan 2020-2023. The Maldives also endorsed the \"Leaders pledge for Nature\" in 2020. The country committed to become carbon neutral by 2030 if it receives adequate international assistance. The Maldives is critical that COP26 and COP27 did not take sufficient action towards meeting the 1.5 degree climate target, highlighting the existential importance of the 1.5 target for the country, already experiencing sea level rise, flooding, coral bleaching, and weather meteorological, hydrological and environmental hazards with 1.1 degree warming. The Maldives' budget 2023 foresees allocations for waste management across the country as well as investments in renewable energy to reduce import dependency on fossil fuels."}, {"bbox": [96, 391, 1158, 525], "category": "Text", "text": "The Maldives is also vocal on climate financing, appealing to international partners to redouble adaptation finance as agreed under the Glasgow Climate Pact in 2021 and on the Loss and Damage Facility in COP27. It has also presented a 10 Point Plan for Financing Biodiversity together with Ecuador, UK and Gabon and committed to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (COP15). It is not anticipated that these priorities will shift significantly in the case of a change in government post-elections, in September 2023."}, {"bbox": [96, 550, 1158, 738], "category": "Text", "text": "High indebtedness poses risks to macroeconomic stability. The Maldives is at a high risk of external debt distress and a high overall risk of debt distress. Its public debt jumped from 75% of GDP in 2019 to an estimated 125% by the end of 2021. The government continues to spend massively on infrastructure projects. Tourism in the Maldives is bouncing back faster and stronger than most other destinations, with the impact of a real GDP growth of 6% expected over 2021-2024¹¹. Yet, the annual fiscal deficit will likely remain above 10% of GDP until 2023. Public debt is expected to remain high at 120% of GDP in 2024. In October 2022 Fitch revised the Maldives outlook from 'Stable' to 'Negative', while affirming its long-term credit rating at B-."}, {"bbox": [96, 763, 1158, 896], "category": "Text", "text": "The Action will build on the opportunities of the Decentralisation Act (2010) by working with local institutions such as island and atoll councils - including Women's Development Committees (WDC) being a part of the Island Councils - to increase their capacity for decision-making and actions to protect and manage natural resources and engage in effective waste management. Alliances will also be built with civil society and private sector organisations, especially in the tourism sector."}, {"bbox": [96, 921, 1158, 1264], "category": "Text", "text": "The Action aligns with priority frameworks of the EU Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and more particularly the external dimension of the EU Green Deal, specifically the Biodiversity Strategy 2030 and Zero Pollution Action Plan for Air, Water and Soil, and the Gender Action Plan III 2021-2025, specifically the thematic area 'Addressing the challenges and harnessing the opportunities offered by the green transition and digital transformation'. This Action translates those policies into reality as the conservation of coral reef systems, mangroves, seagrass and other natural assets protects against the negative impacts of storm surges, flooding and sea level rise, and act as carbon sinks. By building local planning capacity, this Action will help build resilience to the impact of climate change. Moreover, as the Maldives' economy - dependent on tourism and fisheries - is highly reliant on the health of its coral reefs and other ecosystems, the Action will contribute to continued sustainable and stable economic development. It is hoped that the project can help counter the increasing trend of land reclamation projects, which are driven by narrow short-term economic interests and insofar as they undermine the integrity of coral reef platforms and structures, heightening the threat of the Maldives' survival."}, {"bbox": [85, 1307, 340, 1338], "category": "Section-header", "text": "## 2.2 Problem Analysis"}, {"bbox": [96, 1353, 1158, 1407], "category": "Text", "text": "The proposed Action will focus on a limited number of interconnected problems that hinder the sustainable economic development of the Maldives and its communities."}, {"bbox": [96, 1432, 1158, 1593], "category": "Text", "text": "**Protection of biodiversity and climate change:** The Maldives is one of only four atoll island nations in the world exhibiting high marine biodiversity which is a key draw for its economy based on fisheries and tourism. The reef ecosystems are important mitigation mechanisms to the impact of climate change, protecting the extremely low-lying land from storm surge and flooding. Although the Maldives is a middle-income country, its capacity to protect these critical ecosystems is still low. Government agencies in the sector are understaffed and lack resources, including the Environment Department and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) at the Ministry for Environment and Climate"}, {"bbox": [85, 1620, 441, 1646], "category": "Footnote", "text": "¹¹ https://www.imf.org/en/Countries/MDV"}, {"bbox": [1038, 1681, 1144, 1707], "category": "Page-footer", "text": "Page 5 of 24"}]