Located on a small island in the middle of an ocean, Malé faces a host of challenges. Photo: Shahee Ilas. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

The Republic of Maldives is an island nation in the Indian Ocean consisting of a double chain of twenty-six atolls. The capital and largest city is on the island of Malé, located at the southern edge of North Malé Atoll. According to the 2014 census, there are 153,379 people living on an area of just two square kilometres, making Malé one of the most densely populated islands in the world.

Such a density is problematic in itself, but Malé faces a host of other challenges arising from the fact that, as there is no surrounding countryside, everything needed in terms of infrastructure has to be located in the city.

The supply of water to meet the needs of so many people living on a small island is an obvious challenge. Traditionally, the city has relied on rain and groundwater. However, as the population increased in size, the island began to run out of space for facilities to store rain water, and groundwater became increasingly unsuitable for drinking as a result of contamination from sewage and higher levels of salinity caused by seawater leaking into wells.

In 2010, the Japanese multinational, Hitachi, acquired 20% of the shares in the state-owned Malé Water and Sewerage Company and since then has been working on comprehensive and sustainable solutions to address the water challenges facing the island. Hitachi's Aqua-Tech Engineering company has supplied desalination systems that use reverse osmosis, a process in which pressurized seawater is pushed through a semi-permeable membrane which acts as a filter to remove the salt.

Solid waste management is another environmental challenge. In 1992 the Maldivian government took action to try and resolve Malé's growing waste management problem by authorizing the transport of the capital's rubbish to Thilafushi, a lagoon formed by shallow coral reef, situated seven kilometres to the west of Malé.

Each day, barges delivered around 330 tons of refuse, which underwent a rudimentary sorting and was then tipped into the shallow lagoon waters to create new land, a process known as land reclamation. In time, an artificial island, seven kilometres long by 200 metres wide, known to locals as 'Rubbish Island', was created. The Thilafushi 'solution' soon developed into a new problem, as smoke from burning plastic sometimes blew towards Malé and toxic waste from batteries, asbestos, lead and electronic goods began leaking into the sea.

As the first step towards developing a national solid waste management system, in 2008 the Maldives government announced a partnership with the World Bank, which provided a loan of $US13.8m to establish the Maldives Environmental Management Project. Operated by the Ministry of Environment and Energy, the main objective of the project was to develop a socially and environmentally sustainable system of solid waste management by developing a community participatory approach, and designing and implementing island waste management centres and regional waste management facilities.

Fifty percent of the project's funding focused on setting up a waste management system in the northern region of the Maldives, with a strong focus on composting organic waste at island level and separating recycled waste for reuse or resale.

A new waste management centre on the island of Vandhoo, which is due to become operational in 2014, will use environmentally friendly incineration to dispose of waste, with unrecyclable incinerated ash stored in cells to prevent chemicals leaking into the water. In contrast to what happened at Thilafushi, the facility at Vandhoo will not allow open burning, the disposal of mixed waste or the use of refuse for land reclamation.

A third challenge is providing a supply of energy. Malé, and the rest of the Maldives, have been dependent on importing diesel to generate electricity. As part of the government's drive to increase the amount of electricity provided by renewable sources, in 2012 angreement was reached with Japan's International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for a three-phase 'Project for Clean Energy Promotion in Malé'.

A Japanese company, the Kyocera Corporation, installed solar panels at twelve school, university, hospital and government buildings, which together can generate 740 kilowatts of electricity. Speaking at the project's completion in May 2014, the Maldives' Minister of Environment and Energy, Thoriq Ibrahim, noted that the Maldives spent close to US$487m – equivalent to 30% of its Gross Domestic Product – on the import of oil in 2013, and said that it was essential that the country find ways to reduce its expenditure on unsustainable energy.

Perhaps the greatest challenge Malé faces – but one that it can do little about – is the prospect of rising sea levels resulting from climate change. Although the Maldives contributes a minimal 0.001% to the global greenhouse gas emissions, it is among the most susceptible to impacts of the changes in climate. With an average ground level elevation of 1.5 metres above sea level, the Maldives is the planet's lowest country. It is also the country with the lowest natural highest point in the world, at 2.4 metres.

A breakwater has been constructed around Malé at a cost of around US$30m and the government has also taken action to protect the coral reefs by reducing import duty on construction materials and prohibiting the use of coral for government buildings and tourist resorts.

However, the magnitude of sea level rise projected in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report – between half a metre and one metre by the end of this century – threatens the very existence of life and livelihoods in the Maldives.