The Maldivian government stated yesterday that no discussions have been held with India as of yet in finding a solution for the ongoing air pollution issue.
North Indian winds play the biggest role in the air pollution in Maldives that comes with the Northeast (Iruvai) Monsoon.
Under the Right to Information Act (RTI), Mihaaru News asked the Ministry of Tourism and Environment as to whether any direct discussions have been held with India in finding a solution to the issue, with the ministry saying that a bilateral meeting has not been held by them with India.
The ministry stated that the Maldivian government has not received any aid from India regarding the matter.
"Even so, in order to find a solution, all countries in the region, India included, are working together via platforms such as the "Male' Declaration on Control and Prevention on Air Pollution and its Likely Effects for South Asia"," said the ministry.
As per the previous RTI inquiry from Mihaaru News, the ministry said due to trans-bound haze/pollution, the Maldivian government believes the issue of air pollution in Maldives is dangerous to both general health and the environment, with the government paying special attention to the matter.
The reason why the Maldivian airspace becomes polluted is because of the unclean air that comes from the northern reaches of India when the Northeast Monsoon begins. This air is made up of dust, industrial emissions and smoke from agricultural burning, along with the burning of coal for the production of electricity and the dust and smoke created from major construction projects.
As stated in the "Maldives National Action Plan on Air Pollution" which was publicized by the Ministry of Tourism and Environment in December 2024, 70 percent of the polluted air above Male' is air from across the region that congregated above Maldives. The other 30 percent comes from the vehicles that are driven in the country, along with other factors.
The "Indian Ocean Experiment", which was conducted in 1999 by more than 200 scientists from Europe, India and America, discovered that a permanent "brown cloud" had formed above Maldives and the northern section of the Indian Ocean.
Around 75 to 80 percent of this pollution comes from human activities across South Asian and South East Asian nations, as per the experiment.
Statistics from the Health Protection Agency (HPA) have shown that the diseases and illness related to breathing difficulties have been increasing year after year during the period when air is severely polluted in Maldives.
