Political and Social Framing of Coastal Protection Transformation in the Maldives Zentraler Nationaler Und Peripherer Inselinteressen Bewertet

Home , Fuvahmulah, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Mohamed Nasheed

Vol. 150, No. 3 · Research article

Challenges for shared responsibility – Political and social framing of coastal DIE ERDE protection transformation in the Journal of the Geographical Society Maldives of Berlin

Beate Ratter1, Arne Hennig1, Zahid2

1Institute of Geography, University of Hamburg, Bundesstraße 55, 20146 Hamburg, Germany, [email protected], [email protected] 2Maldives Meteorological Service, Hulhule‘ 22000, Maldives, [email protected]

Manuscript submitted: 05 December 2018 / Accepted for publication: 15 July 2019 / Published online: 25 September 2019

Abstract There is widespread understanding that climate change has dramatic impacts especially for small islands. In the Mal- dives, a key challenge is to confront erosion processes along its coasts – past approaches have shown to not always be sustainable. Alternative approaches to coastal protection are therefore urgently needed. In this paper we use the concept of transformative governance to identify factors in society and politics that act as barriers and enablers to the introduction of alternative approaches to coastal protection in the Maldives. We investigate how inhabitants perceive coastal erosion risks and analyse people’s receptiveness to alternative coastal protection measures and their willingness to get involved in coastal protection. Governance structures are assessed against the context of conflicting central political, national and island peripherical interests. We identify hierarchical political structures in coastal protection governance as a dominant obstacle to alternative approaches. Based on empirical data collected in the research project DICES (Dealing with change in SIDS – societal action and political reaction in sea level change adaptation), we stress the importance of cultural aspects and sense of place when dealing with coastal protection. Further, we challenge the widespread assumption that people of the Maldives prefer hard coastal protection structures for their islands – a notion which is utilised by national politicians in their decision-making process to support the continuing application of hard protection measures. We discuss challenges to transformative governance related to shared responsibility, political power and openness to innovation.

Zusammenfassung Es besteht weitgehende Einigkeit darüber, dass der Klimawandel besonders für kleine Inseln dramatische Aus- wirkungen hat. Für die Malediven bedeutet das, dass die vielfältigen Erosionsprozesse entlang der Küsten vor allem in der Zukunft auf nachhaltige und gleichzeitig Natur verträgliche Art zu bewältigen sind. Da landläu-

Maßnahmen dringend erforderlich. Dies ist jedoch nicht nur eine technische, sondern auch eine gesellschaftliche Herausforderung.fige Küstenschutzansätze Um die gesellschaftlichen inzwischen gezeigt und haben, politischen dass sie Hindernisse nicht immer und nachhaltig Potentiale sind, für die werden Einführung alternative alter- nativer Küstenschutzmaßnahmen zu analysieren, untersuchen wir u. a. die Wahrnehmung von Küstenerosions- risiken und hinterfragen die Aufnahmebereitschaft der Menschen für alternative Küstenschutzmaßnahmen. Darüber hinaus werden die bestehenden Küstenschutz-Governance-Strukturen im Kontext widersprüchlicher

Beate Ratter, Arne Hennig, Zahid 2019: Challenges for shared responsibility – Political and social framing of coastal protection transformation in the Maldives. – DIE ERDE 150 (3): 169-183

DOI:10.12854/erde-2019-426

DIE ERDE · Vol. 150 · 3/2019 169 Political and social framing of coastal protection transformation in the Maldives zentraler nationaler und peripherer Inselinteressen bewertet. Basierend auf empirischen Untersuchungen im Forschungsprojekt DICES (Handeln im Wandel in SIDS: gesellschaftlicher Umgang und politische Rahmung der Anpassung an einen Meeresspiegelanstieg in kleinen Inselstaaten), betonen wir die Bedeutung kultureller Tra- ditionen und des Ortsgefühls im Umgang mit dem Küstenschutz. Zudem hinterfragen wir die verbreitete An- nahme, dass die Menschen auf den Malediven harte Küstenschutzstrukturen für ihre Inseln bevorzugen, was nationale Politiker gerne in ihren Entscheidungsprozessen für weitere harte Küstenschutzmaßnahmen als Be- gründung verwenden. Das derzeitig viel diskutierte Konzept der transformativen Governance wird hierbei in Bezug auf eine gemeinsame Verantwortung, politische Machtverhältnisse und die Offenheit für Innovationen im Küstenschutz der Malediven untersucht

Keywords coastal erosion, community engagement, transformative governance, Small Island Developing States (SIDS), the Maldives

1. Introduction lands and areas are often required to manage climate change adaptation on their own. As peripheral areas It is expected that climate change will increase pres- nevertheless depend on the respective centres, un- sures on coastlines as a result of changing sea levels. derstanding of the potential for alternative approach- Flooding of coastal areas and coastal erosion are just es to coastal protection inevitably requires analysis of some of the impacts extreme storm events and sea the distribution of power between the different levels level rise can have. Especially small islands and Small of government that are involved in coastal protection. Island Developing States (SIDS) with limited space and restricted adaptive capacity will be hit hard. The scholarly discussion has revealed a need to ad- Settlements and infrastructure in small islands are dress coastal erosion with new comprehensive strat- mainly concentrated in proximity to the coast and egies, incorporating both new techniques and new thus particularly threatened by these developments governance structures (Temmerman . 2013; Mc- (Barnett and Adger 2003; Nicholls and Cazenave 2010). Millen de Vriend . 2015; Schoonees . 2019). In terms of techniques, ‘new’et al particular- Traditionally, coastal protection was predominantly ly applieset al. to 2014;‘nature based solutions’et al or ‘soft coastal practiced in an ad-hoc manner by island communities et alprotection measures’. These approaches attempt to and buildings were mainly located towards the centre maintain or re-establish coastlines with naturally occurring materials, including sand nourishment, tourism development changed these traditional pat- restoring mangroves, replanting of sea grass beds to ternsof the ofislands. settlement Influences and buildingslike population were constructedgrowth and prevent erosion, or bio-rock materials that mimic ar- closer to the coast. New coastal protection measures David . 2016; Narayan . 2016). were necessary as a result. Until recently, these have Soft protection measures are particularly interesting tificialfor SIDS reefs due to( the factet al that they can be implementedet al at lower costs and with the support of affected com- riskusually of misguided implied somedevelopments kind of along coastal the fortification, coast. munities (de Vriend Narayan with associated financial implications as well as the but certainly with more maintaining efforts needed. In recent years, engineered/hard coastal protection In terms of governanceet al. structures, 2015; recentet al. coastal 2016) ad –- measures have increasingly been criticised for their aptation projects have begun to be based on broader negative impacts on ecosystems as well as their high adaptation concepts that encompass community en- costs (Nunn 2004; Kench 2012). Because of the latter, gagement (Burton and Mustelin 2013; Sherman and Ford 2014; Hafezi discuss the need to include the affected communi- bySIDS the are national dependent governments on international of the affected financial countries. aid to ties in the planning,et al. implementation 2018). Numerous and monitoring studies Recentfinance studiescoastal onprotection, climate change which isadaptation generally handledhave in- of adaptation measures as impacts are most directly dicated that adaptation funds are unlikely to trickle experienced at the local scale (Barnett 2001; Smit and down to peripheries (Connell 2010; Schwarz Wandel 2006). Furthermore, it has become apparent 2011; Nunn - et al. 170 et al. 2014), implying that peripheral is that governance of adaptationDIE ERDE is heavily · Vol. 150 influenced · 3/2019 Political and social framing of coastal protection transformation in the Maldives by politics on different scales and international dis- vulnerability assessment, combining adaptive institu- courses (Kearney Ratter 2008). However, tions with supportive public attitudes to facilitate the only a few pilot studies have so far explored the role of consideration of a wide variety of risks and respons- community supportet al. in implementing 2007; soft coastal pro- es.” (Kates tection measures (see e.g. Barnett et al. 2014; Donner lead to the following research questions for this paper: and Webber 2014). (1) What interests,et al. 2012: values, 7159). experiences These considerations and percep-

Coastal erosion is already a predominant problem for measures among the general public and in politicians? SIDS and the current centralised way of dealing with (2)tions What influence political attitudes and social to specific factors coastal enable protectionor hamper it is seen as unsustainable in many cases. In the Mal- community engagement in coastal protection? dives, 64% of the inhabited islands already reported serious erosion problems in 2004, with no improve- - ment of the situation since then. Government is now - expecting coastal erosion problems to worsen due to tionIn the 2). following, We then describe we first the define underlying transformative conditions gov of anticipated impacts of sea level rise (MEE 2015a) and ourernance case in study the specific area, Fuvahmulah/the context of climate Maldives change (Sec- man-made activities such as land reclamation. Incre- mental adaptation, even including some new tech- Based on a mixed methods approach (Section 4), we niques or governance structures, is unlikely to resolve presenttion 3), and empirical focus on results specific and coastal discuss protection the factors needs. that this problem. A fundamental shift in the management - of coastal protection will be needed altogether to en- tion measures. We also discuss possibilities for the sure a more sustainable trajectory for SIDS. communityinfluence preferences to engage intowards the implementation certain coastal of proteccoastal protection measures (Section 5). In Section 6, we dis- This paper considers the political, organisational and cuss transformative governance from the perspective social dimensions of coastal protection. It uses the con- of community engagement in coastal protection. cept of transformative governance to explore the potential for profound change in the governance of coastal protection in a case study setting. Transformative 2. Transformative governance of the system towards a more sustainable trajectory Climate-related impacts, especially those of extreme (governanceO’Brien 2012; is defined Brown as2015; a fundamental Hulme 2015). restructuring As such, it events, are increasing in frequency and/or magnitude offers a new perspective from which to challenge the (Denton - current approach to coastal protection in small islands. We attempt to advance research on transforma- than to risket al. reduction 2014). Currently, measures many such countries as coastal are de al- tive governance by assessing the potential of the Mal- fenceslocating (OECD significantly 2016). Continuingmore funds withto disaster traditional response ap- dives to engage in new, more sustainable trajectories proaches may be disproportionally costly, so that in coastal protection. In our case study, we analyse the transformation and integration is needed of disaster socio-political framing of coastal protection, the exist- risk response and climate change adaptation (Denton ing institutional structures for its implementation and Lawrence the resulting challenges for transformation in climate to a distinct new system of governance where a dif- change adaptation. This is based on the understanding ferentet al. 2014; suite of factorset al. become 2019). important This implies in the a switchdesign that coastal adaptation is not only a technical but also and implementation of response strategies (Marshall a societal challenge (Gerkensmeier and Ratter 2018). . 2012; Kopp Decisions in favour of coastal protection measures are Transformativeet al governanceet al. 2017). is increasingly discussed Tem- mermannot only influenced by environmental requirements, the capacity to respond to, manage, and trigger regime technical capabilities, and financial possibilities ( - shiftsas “an approachin coupled to environmentalsocial-ecological governance systems (SES) that has at tines andet al. traditions 2013). are It has just been as important shown that as the regional/ power multiple scales” (Chaffin - relationslocal cultures, between specific centres sense and of placeperipheries as well ( Petzoldas rou tive governance describes actions or interventions and Ratter 2015; Ratter that come into play when et al. the 2016: limits 400). of Transformaincremental contexts are those that respond to stresses of all types adaptation have been reached and structural changes with broad-based participativeet al. 2016). problem-solving “Supportive social and are needed (Kates

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Transformative governance is thus a socially initiated - process that forces a system across a threshold (Chaf- line islands, of which 198 are inhabited. About 100 are fin Chaffin et al.exclusively 2017). used The Maldives as tourist consist resorts. of aboutThe islands 1,200 coralof the components that are essential for effecting transform- Maldives are generally very small; no island is larger ativeet al. governance, 2016). namelyet al. governance (2016) list acomponents number of (e.g. institutions, actors, networks and organisations), of the population are within 100 m of the coastline structures (e.g. legitimacy, human behaviours, and (thanMEE 10 km².2015a). 47%It is ofone all ofhousing the lowest-lying structures countriesand 42% power), and additional capacities (e.g. leadership and in the world, with 80% of land lying below one me- innovation). Essential requirements for establishing a ter above mean sea level (Khan 2002). The resi- new social ecological regime include the restructur- dent population of about 400,000 is highly dispersed; ing of power relations, altering established economic there are only 20 inhabited islandset al. that have more structures and changing social structures in favour of than 1,000 inhabitants (NBS 2014). The exception is more fairness and equity (ibid.). the capital Male’, where approximately 38% (153,904) of all Maldivians live (NBS 2014). The Maldives is a Research on community engagement would indicate middle-income country and in 2013 had a per-capita that transformative change is unlikely to be successful gross domestic product of 13,150 US-Dollar, the high- if not intrinsically motivated. It needs shared respon- est in South Asia (IMF 2018). Over the last 30 years, sibility, based on support and engagement of stake- tourism, mainly luxury tourism, has emerged as the holders and community. Trust in and accountability of government are essential for engagement, as is the (MoT 2015). political will to adopt and pursue change (Edmondson largest economic sector, ahead of the fishing sector and Levy 2019). In the following, we use the concept of India transformative governance proposed by Chaffin (2016) as a basis for analysing selected enablers and barriers for a shift towards a more sustainable adapet al.- tation pathway in the Maldives. Our particular focus is on the role of community engagement, adaptiveness of governmental institutions and behaviour. In this, Sri The Maldives we also refer to Kates Lanka maintain existing resourceet al. (2012: systems 7158) and who policies” point asto typical“institutional impediments and behavioural to transformative barriers thatgovernance. tend to driving forces” for transformation, which include ef- Theyfective go adaptive on to emphasise institutions, the importancepublic values of “internaland attitudes and incentives for action and leadership (ibid.: 7159). Transformative governance thus responds to Fuvahmulah broad-based participative problem-solving” (ibid.: 7159),increasing along threats with ofadaptive climate institutions change impacts (Berkhout “with Berkes 2009) and leadership for initiating transformation change (Moser and Ekstrom 2010). 0 200 400 et al. 2006; km AH 2018

Fig. 1 Location of the Maldives in South Asia. Source: own 3. Case study: Fuvahmulah/the Maldives illustration

3.1 Geography, politics and society Our case study, Fuvahmulah, is the second southern- most atoll of the Maldives and is located just south The Maldives are located in the Indian Ocean south- of the equator. It is the third largest island by population with 8,510 inhabitants and the third largest natural island by land mass of the country, extending west of India, extending over an area2 (see of Fig. 860 km 1) (Wadey from north to south and up to 100 km from west to east and with172 a land area of about 298 km 4.4 km from north to south DIEand ERDE 1.4 km · Vol. from 150 ·west 3/2019 to Political and social framing of coastal protection transformation in the Maldives east (NBS 2014). Its shape resembles a bowl with a 3.2 Coastal problems and protection efforts low-lying centre and ridges around the island. Fuvah- mulah is special since it is the only one-island atoll of khan the Maldives. Unlike the other multiple islands atolls, Fuvahmulah has an isolated position in the Indian nearlyet al. two-thirds (2002: of133) the haveislands described suffered the serious Maldives ero- Ocean distant from neighbouring places which is his- sionas “extremely problems, vulnerable” which have to been climate attributed change. to In climate 2004, torically important in case of emergency (see Fig. 1). change by the Maldivian government (MEE 2015a). It has been common for Maldivians to move from one Studies are predicting intensifying coastal risks for island to another in case an island became uninhabit- the Maldives due to the projected sea level rise for the region. Caused by maladaptive practices (Kench 2012; regime” by Bremner MEE 2015a), these erosion problems increase the Mal- theable. people This behaviourof Fuvahmulah. pattern, termed “fluid property dives’ vulnerability to future climate change. (2017: 22) has been difficult for National politics in the Maldives have been turbulent Traditionally, coastal protection has been an integral in the past decade. A rivalry between the two most part of land use on inhabited islands in the Maldives. popular parties of the country, the Progressive Party Over centuries, coastal protection was practiced in an of Maldives (PPM) and the Maldivian Democratic Par- ad-hoc manner by the islands’ communities. Buildings ty (MDP), has left its marks on the political system. were traditionally only allowed to be constructed in Following 30 years of autocratic and centralised rule the centre of the islands, behind a green belt of local by President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom - vegetation called heylhi (see Fig. 2). This green belt cratically elected president, Mohamed Nasheed of the MDP, was elected in 2008. His presidency, the concentratfirst demo- and imagined threats” from the ocean (Bremner 2017: ed on empowering the community to become active at was21). Evenleft intact though to coastalprotect protectionthe inhabitants structures from “realhave the local level in adapting to environmental changes. been built since the 1970s (Shaig 2011), coastal protec- Internationally, Nasheed tion underwent professionalisation only after coastal voicing deep concerns of small islands as most vulnerable to climate change was impacts. a leading After figure three of years, SIDS 15 other islands in 1987 and 1988 (personal commu- Nasheed nication,floods caused expert large-scale MEE, March destruction 2017). As in a Maleresponse and toin PPM, Abdulla Yameen returned to an autocratic style - of government was ousted in 2013 from and office recentralised in 2012. power Through at dent Gayoom successfully raised international aid for the highest levels of government (Robinson 2015). His coastalthis so-called protection “wake efforts up call” (Wadey to hazards (ibid.), Presi term has been characterised by a focus on economic development while neglecting environmental protec- et al. 2017). tion (Malatesta and Schmidt di Friedberg 2017).

Due to stark paradigm shifts regarding environmental governance, local authorities and communities have become uncertain of their roles and the balance of power between the national and local levels Robinson 2015). This has had consequences for the governing of Fuvahmulah. hasEven becomethough the ill-defined Decentralization ( Act of 2010 states distributed towards lower levels of government, deci- that financial and administrative autonomy should be sions are continuously made at the national level. Fu- Submerged reef vahmulah’s atoll council/city council remains highly Built-up area dependent on Male’ regarding the island’s infrastruc- Wetland area Green belt tural and economic development. 0 1 2 km N AH 2019

Fig. 2 Schematic overview of Fuvahmulah. Source: own illustration

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Today’s coastal protection in the Maldives is char- tigated in this part of the world. Compared to a more acterised by a preference for hard measures, such standardised questionnaire, it also allowed us to ask as revetments or sea walls (MHE 2011; Kench 2012). follow-up questions or clarify points. All in all, 116 in- Problems regarding hard coastal protection meas- habitants of Fuvahmulah between the ages of 14 and ures often result from poor design and construction 86 participated in the survey of which 62 were female - and 54 male. ity (Nunn 2004; Kench 2012; Duvat 2013). Successful dueor unsuccessful, to a lack of financial, these measures human and are technicalexpensive, capac cre- In addition, semi-structured interviews were conducted with actors relevant for coastal protection with a large number of islands (Nunn 2009). In recent management (in 2017 and 2019). At the national level, atingyears, aalternative considerable approaches financial to burden coastal in protection a country have been discussed in many countries under terms Ministry of Environment and Energy (MEE; renamed such as soft coastal protection measures or working tothis Ministry included of officials Environment from various in 2018), departments local research of the- with nature (Stive Temmerman ers, and members of intergovernmental and non-gov- Tessler ernmental organisations relevant to climate change fewer negative impactset al. on2013; the environment;et al. however, 2013; adaptation or coastal protection management. At the they needet al. constant 2015). maintenance These measures efforts generally as well as have ac- local level, it involved present and former civil serv- ceptance and engagement of the community and the ants and representatives of NGOs. Information ob- respective administration (Narayan . 2016). So tained during these interviews was counterchecked far, soft coastal protection measures are largely ab- with gathered document data and double checked sent in the Maldives. et al with persons of trust in order to minimise misleading or personally biased opinions. A Male’ and Fuvahmulah was conducted in January and 4. Methods February 2019. Information from semi-structuredsecond field trip into- terviews with relevant actors for coastal protection Our mixed-methods-approach included a literature management has been used to support our analysis. review and content analysis of laws, regulations, and government reports with relevance to climate change adaptation and coastal protection. Also considered 5. Potential for a transformative approach to were reports by intergovernmental and non-govern- coastal protection in Fuvahmulah ment organisations (NGO) such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and BLUEPEACE. For our study we investigated the potential and possible acceptance of soft and hard coastal protection carried out a household survey in Fuvahmulah that measures as well as the factors that shape this atti- madeDuring use our of fielda semi-standardised work from March questionnaire. to April 2017, It enwe- tude, including the community’s attitudes towards compassed four main themes: (1) perceptions of the their environment, coasts and climate change im- environment and the coast, (2) perception of environ- pacts. We analysed to what degree the community is mental problems including climate change impacts, currently involved in general development projects, (3) perspectives of community life and the relation- the willingness to get more involved in the future ship between the people and politics, and (4) perspec- and whether political actors would welcome stronger tives and attitudes towards coastal protection meas- community engagement. ures. The survey was conducted with the support of a local research assistant and involved going door-to- The information obtained from the survey and stake- door, implementing a randomised sampling strategy holder interviews were compared with laws and in all eight wards of Fuvahmulah. We aimed to inter- regulations relevant to coastal protection manage- view one member of every eighth household on the ment. This allows us to identify factors in politics and island, considering all persons over the age of 14 for society that enable or hamper the engagement of the the interview. If nobody was available at the selected affected community in soft coastal protection meas- house, we chose the nearest neighbouring house. Our ures, and more broadly, conditions that support the explorative approach with a semi-structured ques- initiation of broad-based transformative actions with tionnaire allowed us to obtain a range of opinions and respect to the governance of coastal protection. attitudes towards a topic that has been under-inves-

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5.1. Preferences regarding coastal protection in The apparent preference for hard coastal protection Fuvahmulah measures can be explained through various aspects. Firstly, the protection of Male’ with concrete sea walls In order to understand the preferences of the inhab- and tetrapode barriers has had a spillover effect on itants of Fuvahmulah regarding coastal protection people’s attitudes. Hard measures are most widely measures, survey participants were given a list of implemented in the Maldives and therefore also most nine coastal protection measures, including concrete widely known. Secondly, isolated Fuvahmulah is the only one-island atoll of the Maldives, where moving to reclamation, support through coastal vegetation, beachsea walls, nourishment, revetments, land creation elevation, of artificial and groynes reefs, 1land. Of Respondents replied that in emergency situations theyanother have island no alternative in case of islanduninhabitability to retreat to.is difficult. Practic- as soft coastal protection measures. The survey asked Bremner 2017: 22) is whichthe nine of given these items, measures five can were be seenknown as hardand andhow four the respondents rated their effectiveness on a four-point deriveing the that “fluid the property sense of onlyregime” having ( one island of ‘their Likert scale from very ineffective to very effective. own’more increasesdifficult for the the desire people for ofrobust Fuvahmulah coastal andprotec we- We understand this assessment of effectiveness as a tion. proxy for the degree of trust people have in the measures and their ability to protect the coast. Hard coastal protection measures are widely known - Three out of the four most widely known coastal munication, experts MEE, March 2017 and UNDP, Marchas being 2017). the first Expertise choice ofis politiciansmostly restricted (personal to comhard sea walls” (112 of 116 survey participants knew this coastal protection measures, where decades of ex- protection measures were hard measures: “concrete perience have reinforced decision-making routines reclamation” (95). A large number of participants in planning and implementing hard protection meas- weremeasure), also familiar followed with by soft“revetments” measures: (105) 95 participants and “land ures. According to the interviewees, government of- - - ready have experience with as there are no resources were familiar with “creation of artificial reefs”, while- tofices work often on innovative choose to procedures implement measures(personal commu they al- ment”,93 and respectively 91 participants (see Fig. stated 3). that they knew “sup nication, expert Environmental Protection Agency/ port through coastal vegetation” and “beach nourish EPA, March 2017). Furthermore, it became apparent Comparing the results shows that hard measures that the relevant authorities are driven by the convic- generally have higher credibility, but that soft meas- tion that hard coastal protection measures are the ures are also seen as effective. When combining the preferred choice of the affected communities. Our in- - terview partners were surprised to hear that the peo- - ple of Fuvahmulah have shown a positive stance on categories “very efficient” and “efficient”, the high soft measures. Our results contradict what relevant est ranked measures were: “revetments” (92% posi- actors in coastal protection think is the preference of tive responses), “support through coastal vegetation” the people of the Maldives (Sovacool 2012). (90%), “concrete sea walls” (85%) and “creation of ar tificial reefs” (82%).

Fig. 3 Which of the following coastal protection measures do you know? (n=116). Source: own investigation

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With respect to the attitudes towards soft measures, to be more involved in future decision making, mostly the aforementioned lack of alternative islands to re- suggesting they would like to voice their opinion or treat to has further implications, which might ap- participate in surveys. pear contradictory but highlight the diverse opinions. People of Fuvahmulah are closely connected to their island and have developed a deep sense of place. The community highly values the environment of Fuvah- mulah and is concerned about its preservation, which – in their opinion – soft coastal protection measures would ensure. Respondents revealed a close relation- mostship with beautiful the environment of the archipelago”. and specifically The beaches the coast and coastof “their of island”,Fuvahmulah calling are it “special”, frequently “unique” visited and by “thethe local people. Recreational and social activities were - important for the survey participants, namely “swim Surveyming” (23%participants of 197 mentions),revealed that “meeting they see friends positive and family” (9%), “fishing” (7%) and “snorkelling” (6%). similarities between the ways soft coastal protection Fig. 4 In how far is the community involved in the deci- measures work and how elements of the environment sion-making process regarding the development of the such as the reefs and the heylhi, the coastal vegetation, island? (n=115). Source: own investigation serve as natural coastal protection. Asked what they know about climate change in an open question, 16% The current lack of community involvement in the of the participants gave an answer that indicated an development of the island was mainly ascribed to understanding of complex environmental relation- national politics, predominantly top-down and cen- ships which they either learned about in school or tralistic decisions as well as weak existing govern- through an exchange of information with people who ance structures. An open question asking to what work on resort islands. Former employees of resort is- degree respondents are involved in decision-making lands pointed to the leading role these islands play in processes, revealed that the political changes and the rivalry of the two main parties over the last decade budgets and explicit interest in protecting the pris- have brought confusion to the people in the sense tineenvironmental natural environment, protection. resortWith their islands larger have financial both a that they are unsure how much of their involvement is politically tolerated (15% of 92 mentions). A gen- to test new approaches that could help to keep the is- eral feeling of discontent regarding the way the com- landgrowing attractive interest to tourism. and the necessary financial means munity is treated by politicians could be detected. A structured question asking to what degree the respondents generally trust politicians to develop the 5.2. Involvement of the community in development island and/or the island community disclosed a very projects low level of trust in the politicians. Almost three out of four respondents said they ‘do not’ (43% of 115 re- In order to explore community involvement more spondents) or ‘mostly do not’ trust politicians (27%) generally and not only in relation to coastal protec- to implement adequate development measures. Only tion measures, our questions in this section referred 6% of the participants said that they fully trust the to the overall development of Fuvahmulah rather than decisions and 23% of the respondents stated that merely coastal protection.2 49% of the respondents they mostly trust the politicians (see Fig. 5). These felt that the community is not or only rarely involved low levels of trust can be traced back to numerous in decision-making processes. 19% think that there is corruption scandals concerning development pro- sporadic involvement and only 17% reported regular jects on the national level in recent years (Naish 2016; involvement in that politicians and decision-makers Shaahunaz 2017a). A lack of integration of the commu- are looking for their opinions. The remaining 15% nity was also attested to in our interviews with local were unsure (see Fig. 4). A majority would appreciate researchers who have worked in community-based

176 DIE ERDE · Vol. 150 · 3/2019 Political and social framing of coastal protection transformation in the Maldives coastal adaptation efforts in the Maldives, as well as NGOs and affected communities must be consulted in activists from Maldivian NGOs (personal communica- the EIA process of coastal protection projects (MHE tion, NGO, March 2017 and NGO, February 2019). One 2012), but NGO representatives as well as local news - integration of women (personal communication, local munities is often lacking (Maldives Independent 2018; researcher,of the interviewees March 2017). specifically emphasised a lack of personalreports confirm communication, that consultation NGO February of the affected 2019). com

6. Framing of transformative governance in the Maldives

Our intention was to analyse opportunities and barriers to initiate and sustain transformation in the governance of coastal protection. Transformative governance of coastal protection will only be achievable if governance components and structures are open to reform and if the capacity to transform can be developed (see Section 2; Kates . 2012). Based on Chaf- fin - tinise the potential for transformativeet al governance in et al. (2016) and their set of components, we scru- ernance components, b) structures, and c) additional the Maldives along the categories of a) specific gov Fig. 5 Do you trust politicians to implement the correct capacities, such as e.g. innovative power. measures to develop the island and/or island community? (n=115). Source: own investigation a) Governance components (institutions, actors, organisations) Analysis of coastal protection management practice shows that currently, the Maldives national govern- As we have shown, relevant high-level institutions ment is restricting the integration of lower govern- such as the Ministry of Environment in the Maldives ment levels and non-state actors in coastal protec- embody conservative organisational characteristics. tion management. Coastal protection management This is primarily shown by the tendency of these ac- remains highly centralised at the national level, in tors to implement established hard coastal protection without consulting with local level governments, The balance of power between national and island in- NGOs or the affected community. A lack of inclusion terestsinstitutions is clearly like the tilted President’s in favour Office of national and in intereststhe MEE. - as coastal protection measures are planned, coordi- straining factor for transformation – it is a require- nated and implemented at the highest political level of mentof diverse to inform perspectives policies andhas beento make identified informed as judgea con- the Maldives. The interests of the islands are not re- ments (Farrelly and Brown 2011; Bosomworth 2018). A demonstrable lack of interaction between different The City Council of Fuvahmulah, for instance, has no level actors, e.g. Minister of the Environment and Is- procedureflected in the for currentstating whatapproach kind to of coastalcoastal protection.protection land Council President or City Mayor, could be detect- it would prefer for the island. This lack of power at the ed, and it seems clear that national governmental in- local level is further exacerbated by the fact that the stitutions prefer reactive decision pathways without - taking new approaches into account (Sovacool 2012). plement coastal projects (personal communication, expertlocal level EPA, has March no financial 2017). resourcesThe lack ofto participationplan and im We did, however, identify organisations that have shown the potential to be catalysts for potential other processes: contravening the regulations set out transformative developments. International donor in government decision-making is also reflected in organisations are actively propagating the idea of Impact Assessment (EIA) Regulations or the Guidance sustainable development and have included support Manualin official for law Climate and policies,Risk, participation e.g. in the isEnvironmental not practiced for soft coastal protection measures and community as part of EIA either. The EIA Regulations stress that integration in past projects. For example, the United

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Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Maldives the national and local level support this notion. On the has established a network encompassing ministries, national level, parts of Maldivian society have shown international donors, NGOs and affected islands to de- to be very willing to engage in environmental protec- velop and implement sustainable coastal protection tion during the term of President Nasheed from 2008 projects (UNDP 2017). National environmental NGOs to 2012. For example, Nasheed’s government proposed also play an important role in bringing innovative a plan to make the Maldives carbon neutral within a ideas to the table in the Maldives. They have focused decade (Clark 2009). A group of school graduates in Fu- on ecosystem-based coastal protection, a concept re- vahmulah adopted this plan and tried to make Fuvah- lated to soft coastal protection measures. For example, the national NGO BLUEPEACE has carried out a (personal communication, NGO, March 2017). Howev- project focusing on raising awareness in local islands er,mulah these the plans first stalled carbon after neutral Nasheed island was of ousted the country from for the conservation of mangroves with funding from the Global Environment Facility (Bluepeace n.y.). of positive political leadership and openness in insti- gatingoffice in transformative 2012. This example governance. highlights There the crucial are signs role b) Structures (legitimacy, power, human behaviours) that local people are beginning to question the uneven balance of power with regards to coastal protection, Various studies have shown that approaches in which changing their previous passive acceptance of central the knowledge of a broad group is included are likely government to more critical and active behaviour. Re- to be more successful, especially in developing socie- cently on Fuvahmulah, inhabitants gathered under the ties (Tompkins . 2008; Burton and Mustelin 2013; slogan ‘Save Fuvahmulah’ and – based on fears of fur- Sherman and Ford 2014). In the Maldives, the hierar- ther erosion on the eastern coast – demonstrated in chical structureset al and the current balance of power in support of adequate coastal protection, proving their the governance of coastal protection, as well as the willingness to become active (Shaahunaz 2017b). low level of trust in politicians represent major barriers to transformative governance. As shown above, Our results indicate that people are highly aware of power and responsibilities with respect to coastal coastal erosion problems and are willing to partici- protection are concentrated at the highest level of gov- pate more in island development. Particularly notable ernment, while the interests of lower levels of govern- is the lack of integration of women, which has been ment and affected communities on islands are mostly neglected in decision-making. On Fuvahmulah, this studies on adaptation projects (Patt Terry has negatively affected the perceived legitimacy of identified2009). Furthermore, as a barrier Maldivian to transformation society is exhibiting in other the government. Zuhair and Kurian (2016) criticised signs of fragmentation due to the rivalryet al. 2009; in politics. the non-involvement of the Maldivian communities A better understanding of the power relations in the - community is required to ensure that all parts of the sponsible authorities need to improve the circulation community can be included in implementing strate- ofin EIAinformation processes regarding and specifically development highlighted projects. that Oth re- gies for coastal protection (Mercer ers have criticised non-transparent decision-making processes by ministries in climate change adaptation c) Additional capacity (innovation)et al. 2008). projects and a lack of accessible data (Niyaz and Sto- rey Adoption of technological innovation in coastal pro- for lower levels of governments and NGOs or commu- tection in the Maldives has been slow. The integration nity 2011).members This to non-transparency get engaged in adaptation makes it projects difficult of soft coastal protection measures is rare; however, (Transparency Maldives 2013). there are signs that relevant actor groups are taking notice of innovation as we and others have dem- - onstrated (Shakeela and Becken 2015; Malatesta and mulah are in fact interested and willing to partici- Schmidt di Friedberg 2017). The Environment Min- pateOur findingsmore in havedecision-making shown that processes. the people Given on Fuvah their istry (MHE 2011; MEE 2015a) has published reports willingness to be involved in development issues, we in which soft coastal protection was studied in more found indications that people might also be willing to depth and is described as alternative to its hard coun- accept a larger share of responsibility in coastal protection which is shown by the following examples of even though engineered measures are most popular environmental activism. Activities of civil groups on withinterparts. the Furthermore, Fuvahmulah community, our study there confirmed is interest that

178 DIE ERDE · Vol. 150 · 3/2019 Political and social framing of coastal protection transformation in the Maldives in and openness towards soft measures. This could and led to a change of government and a parliamen- - tary majority for the MDP in April 2019. The MDP has Klein . committed to democratic values in the past and com- 2014).be interpreted Residents as withconfirmation their strong that placesense attachmentof place in munity engagement. Therefore, the new government clearlyfluences view the choicetheir island of adaptation as special, options e.g. in ( relationet al to might offer new possibilities for taking a trajectory its isolated location and general environment, which towards sustainable development. makes them receptive for new approaches to protect their coast while simultaneously preserving the natu- Given the increasing pressures on the coasts of many ral beauty of their island. This openness towards soft SIDS in times of climate change, a fundamental trans- coastal protection measures is a notion that has not formation of the governance of coastal protection been recognised by representatives of the Ministry of may be necessary not only in the Maldives. Taking a Environment. systems perspective that analyses the effectiveness of coastal protection in the context of institutional arrangements and political power is essential. In the 7. Conclusion Maldives, enabling shared responsibility at multiple levels and facilitating greater openness to innovative Climate change is seen as the most pressing con- - temporary challenge for the Maldives (MEE 2015b). cient) status quo have been shown as crucial to imple- - mentingprotection transformative measures rather governance. preserving Only the stronger (insuffi able. Given that the current approach to coastal pro- engagement of the interest groups that currently lack Especially the coasts have been identified as vulner integration can lead to broader consensus and support challenges, not only new measures but a more funda- for a climate-resilient sustainable development path- mentaltection istransformation insufficient for of dealingthe governance with the ofupcoming coastal way. The case study of the Maldives shows both op- protection is needed. This would not only lower the portunities for transformative governance – through economic but also societal costs of climate change im- strong local awareness of key issues and willingness pacts: hazard mitigation has shown to be less expen- to be actively involved – but also barriers, mostly on sive than disaster response and recovery operations account of institutional inertia. This is driven by re- (OECD 2016). curring political strife and the resulting lack of clarity as to the actual role of local government and civil so- In this study, we took advantage of categories devel- ciety. Past political leaders have shown an interest in oped by Chaffin - maintaining the top-down system of decision-making formative governance in coastal protection in the and centralised balance of power. Resorting back to Maldives. Our resultset al. (2016)show that to assess the people possible of Fuvah trans- Chaffin - mulah are interested in stronger engagement in de- quired for effecting transformative governance, po- velopment projects and are open towards soft coastal litical leadershipet al. (2016) emerges and the as various a crucial components enabler that re protection measures. The majority of the community drives many other components, including innovation members are very aware of the coastal erosion prob- (e.g. soft coastal protection measures), human behav- lems and are discontented with current approaches to iour (e.g. local initiatives, community engagement) coastal protection imposed by national government. and other institutions (e.g. the local administration). On the political side, a hierarchical political structure that lacks the involvement of lower levels of the gov- - Notes straining factor for adopting innovative approaches. Underernment these and conditions,community ahas transformation been identified of as coastal a con 1 When it became apparent that two measures were prob- protection governance seems very unlikely. lematic to understand either in English (groynes, revetments) or in Dhivehi (herasha thoshi, thoshilun) (in a pre- However, Maldivian history illustrates that the sys- test in March 2017), we used photographs to support the tem can change. The recent presidential election in inquiry about these two measures. September 2018 and the April 2019 parliamentary 2 Involvement is understood here in the sense of ‘caring for’, election might open a window of opportunity for but does not necessarily imply an active role of the com- transformative approaches to coastal protection. To munity as in ‘community engagement’. Our intention is a general surprise, both elections favoured the MDP broader approach to the issue.

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