The Agreement

On December 9th, 2015, the Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea and the Ministry of Environment and Energy of the Republic of Maldives signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the field of climate change vulnerability, risk assessment, adaptation and mitigation. The Italian Ministry for the Environment will co-finance the activities approved under the Protocol with a maximum amount of 4 million euros, which can be integrated with additional financings.

The Work Programme

As foreseen in the Work Programme, cooperation activities and projects will focus on the following thematic priorities:

• improving meteorological risk management through early warning systems;

• supporting water management and treatment, also through desalinization;

• promoting renewable energy, strengthening technical capacities of local experts working in the field of environmental management through environmental education and training activities.

Ongoing projects

• Enhancing weather and climate monitoring and data management capacity of MMS (Maldives Meteorological Service) for reducing vulnerabilities of climate change in the Maldives. The scope of the project is to reinforce the weather monitoring, early warning and disaster prevention network, through the realization of 25 meteorological stations. 

• Ocean Energy Resources Assessment for Maldives. Through the project, an in-depth assessment of the potential of tidal energy in the Maldivian Archipelago will be carried out, and possible technological solutions for its exploitation will be identified.

• Development of a sea state forecasting system for the Maldivian Archipelago – Maldives Meteorological Services (MMS). The project foresees the realization of a wave forecasting system in the Maldivian Archipelago, that will be put at the disposal of the Maldives Meteorological Service (MMS).

• Implementation of an Integrated Meteorological and Climatological Information and Decision Support System at the Maldives Meteorological Service (MMS). The project will strengthen the Maldives Meteorological Service capacity of data collection, analysis and management.

Completed projects

• Support Programme for Climate Change 2017-2018 – AOSIS, training project for 4 young negotiators coming from AOSIS (Alliance of Small Island States) states.