Maldives

NATIONAL WORKSHOP ON FIELD TESTING OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS

4-5 March 1998, Bandos Island Resort, Maldives

The National Workshop on Indicators of Sustainable Development was organised by the Ministry of Planning, Human Resources and Environment (MPHRE) in collaboration with ESCAP at Bandos Island Resort, Maldives from 4-5 March 1998.

Twenty-seven participants representing various ministries, departments and other institutions in Maldives attended the Workshop. In addition, representatives from UNESCAP, UNDP, and SACEP also attended the Workshop. A list of participants is attached in Annex I.

The Minister of Planning, Human Resources and Environment Honourable Abdul Rasheed Hussain welcomed the participants, appreciated assistance of ESCAP and the Government of Netherlands in this important endeavour and hoped that the workshop will come out with concrete results for the benefit of Maldives and other nations in the development of indicators of sustainable development. The representative from United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) Dr. Mohamed Aslam Khan thanked the Minister for taking time out of his busy schedule to participate in the workshop. He hoped that Maldives, in this endeavour towards the development of indicators of sustainable development, would also work on vulnerability index which would contribute substantially towards promotion of sustainable development in Maldives and other Small Island Developing States (SIDs). He also hoped that the Workshop will serve as an important exercise towards simulation of the future work in the development of indicators of sustainable development.

The workshop elected Mr. Mohamed Khaleel as the chairperson and Mr. Abdulla Naseer as the rapporteur.

The meeting adopted the following agenda:

1. Introduction of the Workshop:

• Opening of the Workshop
  
• Election of officers
  
• Adoption of the Agenda
  

2. Integrated environmental planning including the use of indicators of sustainable development.

3. Global and regional efforts at indicators of sustainable development and overview of CSD Indicators Program by ESCAP representative.

4. Sustainable development in Maldives and relevance of indicators of sustainable development:

• Priority issues for which indicators are needed.
  
• Indicators in current use.
  
• Can indicators in current use contribute to the construction of sustainable development indicators?
  
• Steps for further development of indicators of sustainable development in Maldives.
  
• Initial ideas on the menu of indicators of sustainable development.
  
• Future data needs.
  
• Capacity-Building needs.
  

5. Strategy for follow-up action.

6. Other matters.

7. Adoption of the report.

Under this agenda item, the participants were briefed on how indicators can be used in practical planning and charting a course towards sustainable development, giving the example of Netherlands, where the indicators development process took shape during the preparation of the first National Environment Policy Plan (NEPP). Target setting and use of indicators played a major role in the preparation and implementation of this plan and in the forward planning process.

Agreement on targets was accomplished through national discussion and consensus on environmental problems involving all stakeholders, thus enabling the country to focus on environmental outcomes and decision-making. Adoption of the life-cycle approach helped in defining problems at their source and identifying actors and organisations responsible for action. Based on this approach, theme (environmental problems) and target groups (economic sectors) were identified leading to integrated and focused efforts at environmental protection.

Eight themes identified included climate change, acidification, eutrophication, toxic and hazardous pollutants, waste disposal, disturbance of local environment, ground water depletion and squandering of groundwater. The responsible actors or target groups contributing to these themes included agriculture, industry, energy, retail trade, consumers, the construction industry, the waste disposal industry, the drinking water supply industry, sewage and waste water treatment plants and research institutes. With the use of highly aggregated indicators, performance towards these targets was accessed on a yearly basis and presented to the parliament.

Under this agenda item, the diagnostic, monitoring, planning and implementation roles of indicators were outlined. In addition, an overview of the programme of work of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) was provided along with the ongoing regional and national efforts at the development and field testing of indicators of sustainable development.

The importance of having good information available for decision-makers was stressed, while noting the paradoxical situation that although information and information sources were proliferating at an outstanding rate, decision-makers often found it difficult to obtain the right kind of information. Indicators provide a mean to help bridge the information gap. Although indicators had many advantages in terms of providing concerns and aggregated information, they also had various pitfalls that one needed to keep in mind while using them.

The criteria used in selecting the core set of CSD indicators and the process of consensus building that was used in selecting them was also described. The Driving Force-State-Response (DSR) framework was explained as a means of organising the indicator and providing an appropriate analytical framework. The CSD work programme on indicators was explained, together with the current status of its implementation, including completion of the methodology sheet for each indicator that was contained in the publication "Indicators of Sustainable Development: Framework and Methodologies". The various elements of the methodology sheets were also described in a concise manner.

Strong emphasis was placed on the actual selection of the core set of indicators. The difficulties in selecting issues and uses and in obtaining supporting data were explained. The document proposed a menu of possible indicators suitable for the Asian and Pacific region. The menu took into account the Regional Action Programme approved by the Ministerial Conference on Environment and Development held in 1995 and reflected the regional priority issues.

Following the above-mentioned presentations and discussions, the Workshop decided to continue its deliberations in two working groups, considering the following items for discussion:

Sustainable development in Maldives and relevance of indicators of sustainable development:

• Priority issues for which indicators are needed.
  
• Indicators in current use.
  
• Can indicators in current use contribute to the construction of sustainable development indicators?
  
• Steps for further development of indicators of sustainable development in Maldives.
  
• Initial ideas on the menu of indicators of sustainable development.
  
• Future data needs.
  
• Capacity-Building needs.
  

The outcome of the working groups' deliberations and these items was presented to the Workshop, which felt that the exercise in working groups was a fruitful simulation of methodology that would be used in the future in Maldives for development and testing of indicators of sustainable development.

This agenda item was discussed in two working groups. The outcomes of which were further discussed and refined in the plenary session. The Working identified a number of priority issues for Maldives, which are given in Annex II. These priority issues will be further refined during the national testing process of indicators of sustainable development. The Workshop also worked on matching these priority issues with the menu of indicators.

It was noted by the Workshop that many of the social, economic, and environmental indicators listed in the CSD menu are already in use in Maldives, as indicated in Annex III. The Annex also shows the data availability in short, medium and long term for various indicators listed in the menu. The workshop, however, observed that some of the indicators in the CSD list were not applicable to Maldives. In addition, there was a need to develop new indicators particularly to highlight the following issues:

• Maldives vulnerability as a SID
  
• Tourism
  
• Social and ethical values
  
• Safeguard of cultural heritage
  
• Human resource development
  
• Employment
  - Underemployment
  - Expatriate labour force

   

Since for many of these issues the indicators were not there in the menu, it was endevoured to develop new indicators by the Workshop some of which are given in Annex IV. New data needs in terms of such indicators were also identified. The Workshop also felt that the regional menu of indicators developed at ESCAP and presented in the document "Towards Indicators of Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific" is also very useful and decided to use this along with the CSD menu during the process of national testing of indicators of sustainable development in Maldives.

The Workshop endorsed that the Ministry of Planning, Human Resources & Environment will be responsible for the national testing of indicators in collaboration with the working group comprising of ministries and institutions participating in the Workshop. The Workshop also considered the participation of private sector in the indicator developing process and decided to involve Maldives Association for Tourism Industry (MATI) and Maldives Traders' Association in the indicator developing process along with the concerned Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs).

The Workshop noted that the data to be used in the national testing should be authentic data and future data collection should follow the procedures established by the Government of Maldives. The Workshop observed that there was a considerable lack of data on environmental indicators in Maldives. It was recommended the concerned agencies/ministries should give priority to the collection of such data and use it in the preparation of the State of Environment Report (SoE) for Maldives.

Capacity-building needs were identified as an urgent priority by the workshop and it requested exploration of twinning arrangements and assistance of ESCAP in this regard. It also requested for some additional financial assistance to the Project in order to complete the field testing exercise effectively and efficiently in Maldives within the specified time frame.

It was felt that the simulation of the process of the national testing of indicators of sustainable testing should be followed as a future strategy as outlined below:

Steps to be followed in the national testing of indicators.

• Establishment of Focal Points & Working Groups (already established)
  National testing
• Involvement of all Stakeholders and Review of Existing Work
• Selection of National Priorities
  (From existing national plans, programmes, etc..)
  
• Matching Priorities with Indicators
  (From indicators menu given in the Annex 2 & 4. Additional indicators would be added for the identified groups)
  
• Matching Data with Indicators Selected
  
• Testing Indicators with Available Data
  
• Report Writing to Evaluate Implementation Procedure and Identify Opportunities & Constraints
  

The Chairperson of the Workshop thanked ESCAP on behalf of the Government of Maldives for assisting in the process of national testing including the organisation of the National Workshop and funding support of the Government of Netherlands.

The workshop adopted its report.