Maldives Matter Project

The Maldives are facing several extreme challenges:

They cannot produce enough of their own food. They import 95% of their food resulting in  a lot of waste and emission.

Secondly, they cannot process and manage all the waste generated by import and tourism due to the distances between the islands. Therefore the waste ends up on the beaches and in the ocean. 

The Maldives are not the only one facing this problem. There is a group 57 island states called the Small Island Developing States. 

Solution: A local self-sufficient and circulair cooled greenhouse that produces high quantity of fresh crops, which they cannot grow with the current climate. When delivering the vegetables, the waste is collected, which a biodigester turns into electricity for the greenhouse. Making it a circulair and self-sufficient greenhouse. 

This will set the first steps towards sustainable local food production for the Small Island Developing States.

With more than 65 million  people living in the Small Island Developing States (SIDS), which are extremely  vulnerable for climate change, it is a necessity to make the SIDS circulair, self-sufficient and resilient. Besides that, the SIDS are also a very popular holiday destination. Yearly more than 41 Million tourist come to these Island States, making it the most important income source. The tourism industry is therefore essential for the economic growth of these Island States. However it not sustainable, resulting in some major problems: Lack of fresh food and a lack of proper waste management. As a result of these issues several other problems arise:

• The import for the tourist industry is dependent on foreign/global markets. 

• Unbalanced cash flow where the local communities do not profit from the tourism industry. 

• High CO2 emission from the huge amount of import as many millions of kg are imported yearly by boat or airplane.

• High amount of dumped waste, which is currently being thrown into the ocean.

These problems are tackled by developing a circulair local food production chain. This solution both eliminates the necessity of food import as well as solves the current waste management problem.

The solution is problem driven, meaning the solution is specifically designed towards the needs of the stakeholders. Therefore working together with the population is essential for the viability of this project. The focus is on improving the lives of the local population, the FAO stated that local food production is an essential part to make the SIDS circular and resilient. The project will first be realized on the Maldives, as the first step towards a circular Island State.

To better understand the needs of the local population of the Maldives, active discussions with locals are held. Partnerships with local NGOs such as Live & Learn are established, formulating the precise implementation of the project. The most important factors are: -

• The locals do not have the knowledge on cultivating the demanded crops.

• High unemployment among the youth because of the lack of proper jobs. 

• Local farmers struggle to bring their food to the market due to the distances between the islands.

This project does not only focus on making circular food production possible and generating direct and indirect jobs, but it is also an educational centre on cultivating crops and is a way to bring local food directly to the market.

The solution is a circulair and self-sufficient greenhouse, which can produce fresh and sustainable crops which can not be grown with the current climate. Within the Netherlands, the dutch horticultural knowledge is very advanced. Making it able to produce crops anywhere in the world. With these innovative and proven technologies it is possible to create the first circular and self-sufficient greenhouse for island states. The technologies that are going to be used exist of: Solar panels, deep sea water cooling, biodigesting and desalination. The first greenhouse will be approximately 1000 m2 with another 1000 m2 of supporting facilities and it has the ability to supply up to 30% of the market.

By combining these different types of technologies, we are able to cool the greenhouse, provide it with electricity, water, and nutritions. By using reusable containers, organic fertilizer and substrates such as coconut peat (a local waste product) it  is possible to not only make the greenhouse circular but also the supply chain.

It will supply the market, mainly the tourism industry, with the demanded crops such as cucumber, tomatoes, bell peppers, etc in a consistent manner. The greenhouse does not compete with local farmers  because these crops cannot be grown with the current climate. Therefore these crops are currently flown or shipped in. This means that they are of poor quality and extremely polluting due to the CO2 emissions and packaging waste. In the meantime, organic waste generated by the tourists is collected, which subsequently will be turned into electricity and fertilizer by a biodigester for the greenhouse and the locals. Besides this we want to provide the locals with education on this way of cultivating. Also with the desalination it is possible to deliver clean drinking water to the locals. And additionally through the transport system that comes with the project, the local farmers  are given the possibility to deliver directly their crops to the tourism market.

The solution, a circulair and self-sufficient greenhouse, is innovative is several ways:

• Firstly, it combines and implements different types of technologies. Individually the technologies have proven themselves. But have not yet been combined within one sole solution. 

• Secondly, however the industry in horticulture in the Netherlands is extremely advance, the climate facing in the Maldives and the other SIDS are unique and challenging. Making the application of the technologies innovative. 

• Thirdly, the approach of the current way of practice is a top down approach. Meaning: Only delivering the greenhouse key-turn to the client. This causes the operation of the greenhouse to fail due to the highly specialised knowledge needed to operate such greenhouse. The proposed approach is a bottom up approach. By not only building the greenhouse but also exporting the knowledge in an educational form together with the locals. Resulting in locals able to operate the greenhouse and profit from the horticultural knowledge.

• Lastly, the business model is innovative due to several reasons: It is focused on generating income through sustainability instead of though a normal practice. Additionally, the business model is to solve the source of the problem instead of the symptoms while making the lives of the locals and the consumers better. Lastly, the business model is to generate enough income to tackle other waste streams with hard to close business case, such as plastics and metals. This makes the business model innovative and different from other sustainable business models.

Several technologies lies at the heart of the greenhouse. These technologies are as following: 

• The solar panels and the biodigester will make the electricity to run the greenhouse. This can be combined with a hot-cold storage and a turbine to make sure for a continuous stream of electricity. 
• The deep sea water cooling will provide the greenhouse with cold water to be able to cool it via evaporative techniques during night to make it possible to grow the selected crops. 
• The desalination will provide fresh water for the crops. 

Therefore the techniques are a key component the make the local food production possible. The combination of the above mentioned techniques are never been done within such an environment. 

Additionally, crops are very sensitive towards environmental conditions and need specific parameters to be able to have a high production. 

Besides these techniques, a platform is being created together with our technical partner to educate the locals to be able to manage the greenhouse and to be able to verify the conditions within the greenhouse that they are as needed.

The Maldives Matter project will be the first real scale proof of concept. Afterwards the goals are to expand towards different locations within the Maldives and the other 56 island states. Besides the expansion on local sustainable food production. The goals over the next five years are also to tackle the other waste streams with more difficult to close business cases such as plastics, metals, etc. For those cases, the Maldives Matter Project will be the economical engine to make it possible. 

It will function as the first piece of the puzzle to make the  all the waste streams circulair.