Land Resources
The Government of the Maldives completed an Agriculture Master Plan in 2009, covering the period 2006-2020 and aiming to increase food security through agricultural development based on the Vision 2020 plan, which pursues sustainable development objectives. Land resources are also addressed within the Maldives National Strategy for Sustainable Development report, submitted to UNEP in 2009.
The Maldives is the sixth smallest sovereign state in terms of land area, with total land area estimated to be approximately 235 square kilometers. This land is comprised of approximately 1,192 coral islands, and 96% of those islands are less than 1 square kilometer in area. Only 10 islands are more than 2.5 square kilometers. Land is highly scarce and the 358 islands that are currently in use account for just 176 square kilometers. Over 80% of the total land area of the Maldives is less than 1 meter above sea level. Adding to this, land access difficulties have increased with the population of the country, which has quadrupled since 1911. Already 34 of the inhabited islands do not have additional land for new housing and another 17 islands will reach their carrying capacity by 2015. Land reclamation work has been carried out to alleviate population pressures on the land, but reclamation has its own environmental drawbacks. The average width of inhabited islands is 566 meters, with the result that most infrastructures are built within 233 meters from the coastline. Agriculture plays a minor role in the economy, contributing only 2.8% to GDP in 2000 due to the lack of land resources, which also exacerbates the issue of food security. Though the climate of the Maldives provides ideal conditions for the luxuriant growth of tropical trees and shrubs, other factors such as high salinity, the highly calcareous nature of soils and salt-laden winds create harsh environmental conditions.
