The Role of Local Food in Maldives Tourism - Scholarly Commons ...
The Role of Local Food in Maldives Tourism - Scholarly Commons ...
The Role of Local Food in Maldives Tourism - Scholarly Commons ...
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In the absence <strong>of</strong> space for effective rubbish disposal on Male’, from the early 1990s the<br />
government began us<strong>in</strong>g a neighbour<strong>in</strong>g 7-km lagoon, Thilafalhu, as a refuse dump<br />
(Omidi, 2009a). Rubbish from other islands is taken by dhonis or local boats, while <strong>in</strong><br />
Male’ the rubbish is collected <strong>in</strong> a dump yard from where truckloads <strong>of</strong> rubbish are<br />
taken on land<strong>in</strong>g vessels to Thilafalhu. As more and more rubbish was dumped, the<br />
shallow lagoon took the form <strong>of</strong> an island and progressively grew <strong>in</strong> size. Today, it is<br />
Thilafushi Island, and covers 124 acres (Ramesh, 2009). <strong>The</strong> growth <strong>of</strong> the island has<br />
been assisted by additional land reclamation (Omidi, 2009a). <strong>The</strong> government saw the<br />
potential to generate revenue from the grow<strong>in</strong>g island and leased plots <strong>of</strong> land for<br />
<strong>in</strong>dustrial purposes (Omidi, 2009a). To give some relief to over-crowded Male’, some<br />
commercial activities that disturb residents, such as cement storage and carpentry, were<br />
moved to Thilafushi.<br />
Accord<strong>in</strong>g to Male’ Municipality, rubbish is separated before be<strong>in</strong>g transferred to<br />
Thilafushi. Compacted metal cans and iron are re-exported to India. However,<br />
hazardous waste such as batteries and electronic waste are not separated from other<br />
refuse and this is a major ecological concern (Omidi, 2009a).<br />
<strong>The</strong> development <strong>of</strong> this island can be seen <strong>in</strong> the two photographs <strong>in</strong> Figure 4.3. On the<br />
left is the orig<strong>in</strong>al Thilafalhu Lagoon before it was be<strong>in</strong>g used a rubbish dump, and on<br />
the right is an aerial view <strong>of</strong> Thilafushi Island that has been created from this lagoon.<br />
Figure 4. 3 Thilafalhu Lagoon and Thilafushi Island<br />
Source: Ramesh (2009) Source: www.flickr.com<br />
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