ABSTRACT:The climate change vulnerability discourse in the Maldives coexists with a pervasive set of critical environmental factors of significance to the socio-environmental systems of small peripheral islands. This implies the need to strike a balance between global challenges associated with environmental processes at the supra-national scale and the adjustments and strategies implemented at the local scale in response to change. The current paper offers a discussion of this dialectic, in reference to both the broader contemporary debate in island studies, and the political and environmental context of the Maldives. We first outline the international scenario, and then go on, in the second part of the paper, to provide a reading of environmental policy on these islands. We argue that emphasizing the country's environmental vulnerability has reinforced a 'lexicon of risk' within the environmental discourse and that, in recent years, this narrative has been one of the main forces driving the construction of contemporary Maldivian 'nation-ness'.

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This article explores the critical role of education in promoting sustainable development in the Maldives context. It presents the outcomes of a small-scale project, Playing with Solar, implemented in a small island school in collaboration with the island community. Because of the environmental and educational principles embedded in this project, it is presented as one that prioritizes sustainable development, actively engages with the community, and aligns with the key competencies underpinning the Maldives National Curriculum Framework. The Playing with Solar project is an example of transformative pedagogy aligned with sustainable development. By promoting problem-based learning, the project shows how key competencies and pedagogical principles can be operationalized in line with National Curriculum Framework syllabi that promote interdisciplinary learning, in contrast to textbook-based, transmission models of teaching.

The 2010 UNPD’s Assessment of Development Results defined the Maldives “a vulnerable Small Island Developing State” by pointing out the influence of both external and local human factors on their fragile ecosystems. This impact is deeply related to a main geographical feature: the high dispersion of land mass and population, both of them spread over a distance of 860 km. Above all, this dispersion has an effect on two environmental issues: energy distribution and solid waste management. The latter is particularly interesting for the geographical analysis of Small Island Countries. Due to centre-periphery distance and cost benefits analysis, in the Maldives public and private actors have developed different solid waste management models: central and regional waste management dumpsites, hybrid systems implemented by resorts and “informal” practices still followed by local communities. In this paper, we discuss these systems stressing on the relevance of combining infrastructural measures with “informal” practices at local level. Furthermore, we report the outcomes of The Right Place, a participatory waste management action carried out by MaRHE Center (a Milano- Bicocca Research Center) in Faafu Magoodhoo Island.

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