EPA and Agricultural Ministry Sum Up their Field Assessment in Neykurendhoo Mangrove Forest

On July 6, 2020, a team of environmental experts from Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Ministry of Fisheries, Marine Resources and Agriculture commenced an investigative field operation to determine the large scale die-off of mangrove trees in the protected mangrove area of Kelaa and Neykurendhoo.

H.Dh Neykurendhoo and HA. Kelaa houses one of the largest mangrove forests in the country. Under the Environment Protection Act (Law No: 4/93), both mangrove forests were declared protected in 2018.

Neykurendhoo council have, on multiple occasions, stated that the severity of damage to the island’s mangrove forest is unprecedented. They have estimated over 10,000 deaths of mangrove plants from their Mangrove forest.

On June 27, a team organized by Neykurendhoo council began a survey using the skillset of International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Mangrove Specialist group, Mangrove Action Project (MAP), and Save Maldives. The survey was funded by Commonwealth’s Human Ecology Council.

We are in the field with @MoFAmv to understand the cause behind large-scale die-off of Protected mangrove area of Neykurendhoo. This might be the result of multiple factors, we will keep the public updated pic.twitter.com/P8ACLVvIl5

— EPA Maldives (@EPAMaldives) July 13, 2020

Followed by the survey’s findings, a team of two experts visited Neykurendhoo as part of their field assessment trip to Kelaa and Neykurendhoo and stayed in the island for two days to complete their investigation.

Neykurendhoo Council’s President Mr. Ali Adam, in his interview to ‘Thiladhun’ stated that the team has completed their work and left the island yesterday.

“They had probed into the issue of mangrove deaths in the island’s mangrove forest, identifying two types of pathogens that live in the barks and leaves of the mangroves. They have also found a pest that could be causing the deaths,” stated Ali Adam.

EPA announced that they will publicize the findings of the assessment once all procedures are completed.

Neykurendhoo’s representative and Makunudhoo constituent’s member Mr. Mohamed Raai has brought the issue to the parliament’s floor and have met with both Minister of Environment and Minister of Fisheries to discuss about the issue.

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