RFI - Ocean Plastics Sri Lanka and Maldives.pdf

Request for Information USAID/Sri Lanka & Maldives Ocean Plastic Reduction Program (Ocean Plastics) Activity

Reference Number: 2022/A Release Date: November 10, 2021 Response Due Date: Nov 24, 2021 09:00 A.M (Sri Lankan Time)

On December 18, 2020, the U.S. passed into law a series of measures targeting plastic debris in the marine environment. The bipartisan Save Our Seas 2.0 Act authorized U.S. Agencies to establish a diverse set of new programs aimed at preventing plastic waste from reaching waterways. In 2021, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) prioritized 23 Missions to enact this new policy, and USAID/Sri Lanka & Maldives was tasked with carrying out this policy priority.

USAID/Sri Lanka & Maldives is in the process of designing a new five-year Ocean Plastic Reduction Program (Ocean Plastics) activity in Sri Lanka and Maldives as described in the attachment.

The purpose of this Request for Information (RFI) is to provide public information to all interested parties of USAID’s intent to support reduction of Ocean Plastics Pollution in Sri Lanka and Maldives, as well as to collect information and suggestions about perceived needs for ocean plastics programming. The information contained within this RFI is intended solely as a thought-piece; ideas may change significantly during the Mission’s program design, consultation, and approval process. In addition, any information collected through this RFI may or may not be used to help guide thinking about ocean plastics programming.

In particular, USAID seeks feedback on the following key questions as they pertain to Sri Lanka, the Maldives or both. Respondents are not required to provide feedback on all of USAID’s questions. To facilitate compilation of responses please number each response that corresponds to the questions below.

Results Framework

1. Are the objectives described in the draft concept feasible to achieve? If not, how could the objectives be better designed?

2. Are there additional approaches to consider to ensure sustainability of waste management systems that should be considered within this activity?

Government Support

3. What are the opportunities for USAID to support central and local government efforts to improve waste management service delivery?

4. What types of policy measures are required to create an enabling environment for the private sector to be involved in solid waste management, especially related to plastics?

Private Sector, Non-Government Sector and Community Engagement

5. What opportunities and constraints exist to strengthen private sector engagement in solid waste management service provision? Is there specific capacity, policy, financial, and/or institutional bottlenecks that must be addressed in order to unlock additional private sector participation? What approaches have been effective in addressing these bottlenecks elsewhere?

6. How could a small grants program in both countries be effectively targeted to support non-government, private sector, and community initiatives to improve and/or scale up solid waste management efforts?

Finance

7. How can long-term financial sustainability be built into waste management interventions?

Could you share specific examples of successful financing strategies to support waste management that have worked in Sri Lanka, the Maldives or other countries with similar contexts?

Behavior Change

8. Behavior change gains, around plastic use, alternatives to plastic and solid waste management, have been challenging. What is the primary bottleneck? What approaches have been successful elsewhere?

9. What approaches are successful to support behavior change around the 3R (reduce, reuse, recycle) principles at household, community, corporate and governmental levels?

Data

10. What types of data, information, and decision support tools would best support the governments’ solid waste management and ocean plastics pollution reduction efforts?

11. What types of decision-making information, data, information and tools would best support the private sector to mainstream solid waste management into their business model or increase the overall resilience of their business?

Gender Equity and Social Inclusion

12. What can be done to ensure more diversity and gender inclusivity, including equity for marginalized groups and the informal waste sector, in the implementation of this activity?

13. What can be done to professionalize the informal waste sector?

Disaster

14. What opportunities exist within this activity to strengthen capacity and build resilience to respond to and address additional waste streams generated during natural or man-made disasters?

Research

15. What is the greatest research needs in Sri Lanka and Maldives on the topic of waste management and ocean plastics pollution? Could you give successful examples of how such research and findings have been used by the public and private sectors to influence decision making?

Other

16. Please share any other suggestions you may wish to offer that will improve program design and implementation.

Comments and feedback on the draft concept paper of the Ocean Plastic Reduction (Ocean Plastics) Activity should not exceed five (5) pages.

DISCLAIMER

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY. It is not a Request for Proposal, a Request for Quotation, a Request for Application, an Invitation for Bids, a Solicitation, or an indication USAID will contract for the items contained in this RFI. This RFI is an attempt to reach out in an effort to determine industry capabilities and interests and will be treated as information only. In accordance with U.S. Federal Acquisition Regulations FAR 15.201(e), responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract.

Responses to this RFI are strictly voluntary. Issuance of this notice does not constitute an award commitment on the part of the U.S. Government, nor does it commit the U.S. Government to pay for any costs incurred in the preparation of comments. Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI. Responses to this RFI may not be returned and respondents may not be notified of the result of the review. If a Solicitation is issued, it will be announced on www.SAM.gov or www.grants.gov at a later date, and all interested parties must respond to that Solicitation announcement separately from any response to this announcement. This RFI does not restrict the Government's acquisition approach on a future Solicitation.

Businesses should identify any proprietary information in their responses. Proprietary materials will neither be distributed, nor discussed with, any other organization. Information submitted in response to this notice will be used at the discretion of the Government. Further, the information submitted will remain confidential insofar as permitted by law, including the Freedom of Information and Privacy Acts.

Standard Clauses and Provisions. The standard clauses or provisions for awards are generally prescribed by law and regulation and will vary considerably by award type. Information regarding clauses and provisions will be provided when the award type is identified after proposals/applications are sought in the future.

FAR 52.215-3 REQUEST FOR INFORMATION OR SOLICITATION FOR PLANNING

PURPOSES (OCT 1997)

(a) The Government does not intend to award a contract on the basis of this solicitation or to otherwise pay for the information solicited except as an allowable cost under other contracts as provided in subsection 31.205-18, Bid and proposal costs, of the Federal Acquisition Regulation.

(b) Although “proposal” and “offeror” are used in this Request for Information, your response will be treated as information only. It will not be used as a proposal.

(c) This solicitation is issued for the purpose of: receiving recommendations on approaches for designing USAID/Sri Lanka and Maldives’ Ocean Plastics Reduction Activity.

Instructions for Submitting Responses/Comments

Responses (comments, suggestions, and opinions) to this RFI are due no later than Wednesday, November 24th, 2021 at 09:00 A.M (Sri Lankan Time). Respondents may also include organization information including past experiences working in this subject area, experience working with other stakeholders, including implementing partners on the ground or host country government officials, or capacity information.

Send comments related to this RFI via email to the attention of Mr. Hirantha Heenatigala, Acquisition and Assistance Specialist at srilankaprocurement@usaid.gov and CC hheenatigala@usaid.gov with the subject title “Request for Information (RFI): USAID Ocean Plastics Pollution Reduction Activity”, no later than the date/time stated above. You may receive an electronic confirmation acknowledging receipt of your response but will not receive individualized feedback on any suggestions.

This Notice can be viewed and downloaded from the internet at www.SAM.gov or www.grants.gov.

Thank you for your assistance and interest in USAID programs.

Sincerely, Julie Ota Contracting & Agreement Officer US Agency for International Development Mission 44, Galle Road, Colombo 03, Sri Lanka

Julie Ota Digitally signed by Julie Ota Date: 2021.11.10 08:17:46 +05'30'

ATTACHMENT

I. Background

Ocean plastic pollution has reached a crisis level, threatening the world’s delicate marine ecosystems, major industries such as fishing and tourism, food security, and ultimately human health. Every minute, the equivalent of an entire garbage truck of plastic makes its way into the world’s oceans—roughly eleven million tons annually.

Stopping plastic pollution at the source is the most effective way to address this challenge. The majority of plastic ocean debris comes from rapidly growing cities and towns along rivers and coastal areas in the developing world — where waste management systems, infrastructure, and governments struggle to keep pace with growing populations and increasing amounts of waste.

Per the 2020 Save our Seas 2.0 Act, USAID will prioritize efforts to reduce plastic waste by improving the capacity of and encouraging private sector investment in solid waste management systems and strengthening policies and incentives to shape behaviors for the 3Rs (reduce, reuse and recycle). USAID is leveraging its extensive networks, expertise, and global experience for a collaborative, cross-sectoral approach in working with cities and local governments to promote locally led solutions and women’s economic empowerment and engage the private sector in addressing the plastic waste challenge and promoting a circular economy.

II. PURPOSE

The overall purpose of this Activity will be to support improved solid waste management practices, with an emphasis on reduction of Ocean Plastics Pollution in Sri Lanka and Maldives. The Mission understands that government priorities, available budget, and other contextual factors will result in greater focus on (and potential exclusion of) some of the objectives described below. The successful offeror/applicant will be required to engage with the relevant key government and private sector stakeholders and propose a tailored work plan for each country that will maximize the Activity’s impact. The Activity will work to fulfill this purpose through four complementary objectives:

1. Professionalize, improve and expand solid waste management, with a focus on reducing plastics available to the environment;

2. Reduce reliance on virgin plastic inputs and products;

3. Empower communities to drive local waste management solutions;

4. Strengthen the enabling environment for solid waste management with an emphasis on reducing ocean plastics

a. strengthen central and local government efforts to plan, budget for, finance and regulate solid waste management;

b. Improve solid waste data availability, use, and management;

c. Increase capacity to prevent and/or respond to solid waste related impacts of disasters.

Figure 1. Ocean Plastics Pollution Reduction Framework (draft)

III. DRAFT CONCEPT

The Activity will take a system strengthening approach to support improved solid waste management practices, with an emphasis on reduction of Ocean Plastics Pollution in Sri Lanka and Maldives. It will rely on four primary pathways, or objectives, to achieve the activity purpose. The first pathway will focus on a range of efficiency, effectiveness and solid waste service delivery expansion approaches grounded in financial and technical sustainability in order to improve not only access to solid waste services, but also reduce plastics available to the environment. The second pathway will work towards reducing the reliance on virgin plastic inputs and products, eliminating the availability of additional plastics to the environment entirely.

The third pathway recognizes that the solutions to the most pressing local needs are best developed with significant community ownership and involvement. The final pathway cuts across the others and will focus on the enabling environment. This pathway encompasses everything from policy implementation support, access to accurate and reliable data, and the ability to absorb shocks to the system ranging from additional solid waste, particularly plastics generated during COVID 19 response, shipping disasters, and acute natural disasters.

Throughout the activity, it is crucial that approaches are tailored to address specific challenges related to the island nations. Further descriptions of how the activity will advance these pathways and achieve these results are described in this section.

As an island nation, Sri Lanka faces unique challenges in managing its waste. The country’s solid waste management (SWM) systems struggle to keep pace with growing urban populations as system funding, organization, and local government resources remain static. It is estimated that in Sri Lanka only:

● 20% of households have access to public waste collection services;

● 47% burn their waste;

● 23% dispose of waste in their communities or natural environments; and

● 8% practice backyard composting for organic waste.

The Maldives, an archipelago of 1,200 coral islands, faces a unique set of challenges in managing a rapidly growing volume of waste. Given its dispersed geography and a host of other unique challenges such as extremely limited amounts of land to store waste, the country has been overwhelmed by managing not only its domestic waste, but also the marine debris generated by other countries that is carried in by ocean currents.

Objective 1: Professionalize, improve and expand solid waste management, with a focus on reducing plastics available to the environment

Waste management levels of service vary throughout Sri Lanka and the Maldives relying heavily on local, and frequently informal actors for the collection, transport, segregation, recycling, and ultimately disposal of solid waste. USAID seeks to build off of current service delivery models, expanding access to and professionalizing waste management service delivery:

● Enhance access, service reliability, and management, with a focus on urban and coastal communities. USAID will explore development of business models, supply chains, and technologies aimed at increasing the quality and availability of services, improving efficiencies, and generating greater cost recovery.

● Solid waste collection represents a substantial portion of many local governments’ budgets. USAID will seek to increase public and private funds availability through a range of planning, advocacy, and efficiency interventions. USAID will also catalyze additional funding from multilateral agencies, foundations, and impact investors.

Expected results

● Decreased volume of solid waste available to the environment

● Improved access to reliable and sustainable waste management services

Objective 2: Reduce reliance on virgin plastic inputs and products

Both Sri Lanka and the Maldives plastics policy priorities are founded on the 3Rs of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Reducing the importation and use of virgin plastics and plastic products is the first, and most important step towards reducing ocean plastics. Reducing reliance on virgin plastics requires a comprehensive analysis of supply chains, regulatory environment, and identification of context specific opportunities and constraints.

Offerors/applicants will be required to present their proposed approach, opportunities to reduce plastic importation and illustrative Activity results.

Expected results

● Decreased amount of single use plastics imported into the country

● Increased adoption of 3R behaviors (reduce, reuse and recycle) at household, community and private sector levels

Objective 3: Empower communities

Solid waste management is inherently a disperse and local issue. USAID seeks to move beyond community consultation towards community empowerment, resulting in community level and community led solid waste management initiatives, businesses and services. Communities will be empowered to work with local governments to identify opportunities to reduce, reuse and recycle plastics, as well as design and implement effective containment, collection, segregation, and recycling approaches.

Offerors/applicants will be required to present their proposed approach, opportunities to reduce plastic importation and illustrative Activity results.

Expected results

● Amount of waste reduced within the community

● Increased management practices that support the 3R principles

Cross-cutting Objective: Strengthen the enabling environment for solid waste management with an emphasis on reducing ocean plastics

USAID recognizes that the success of these objectives is predicated on improvements in the broader enabling environment for solid waste management, particularly plastics, in Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Specifically, USAID seeks to strengthen the enabling environment by:

● Supporting implementation of government policies. Both Sri Lanka and the Maldives have strong governmental policies that govern solid waste management approaches, particularly as they relate to plastics. USAID seeks to work with local, regional and national governmental bodies to support implementation of existing, relevant, policy priorities.

● Improving solid waste management data availability and use and management. Reliable and accurate information systems are needed to both track key performance indicators (KPIs) and provide information on the amount of plastics imported into the country, as well as collection, reuse, recycling disposal and leakage into the environment. Priority will be given to strengthening and working within existing systems, rather than the development and deployment of new systems. In all cases, long-term (post-Activity) management of data systems must be assured through partnership with local public and private entities.

● Disasters ranging from COVID 19, to the Express Pearl fire, to the 2004 tsunami generated excess solid waste and disrupted existing solid waste management systems.

USAID seeks to increase capacity to prevent and/or respond to solid waste related impacts of disasters.

Expected results

● Enhanced implementation of governmental solid waste management policies

● Improved data availability and use for decision-making and management

● Increased capacity to prevent and/or respond to solid waste related impacts of disasters

IV. Sri Lanka Background

Situated in the Indian Ocean with a land area of 65,610 sq km and a population of approximately 22 million people, the island nation of Sri Lanka has seen a unique set of challenges when dealing with the issue of waste management. Roughly 50 percent of inhabitants live in coastal areas on the West, South-west, and Southern coasts of the island.

The commercial capital of Colombo has the highest population density with 21,000 inhabitants per km2. Sri Lanka has made great strides in the last 20 years to increase incomes and reduce poverty, now meeting most Millennium Development Goals. With a rapidly growing population and increasing urbanization, Sri Lanka must address concerns related to waste management in the country. It is estimated approximately 7000 MT of waste is generated per day in Sri Lanka.

A garbage dump collapse in 2017 and a marine incident in 2021 have both refocused efforts and seen renewed interest towards waste and more specifically plastics waste management in Sri Lanka.

National Policy Context

The first National Environmental Act No. 47 of 1980 and its subsequent amendments, have addressed and promoted a series of waste management practices. The Ministry of Environment also led the development of the National Strategy on Waste Management in 2000; National Policy on Solid Waste Management in 2007.

From this policy framework, the National Action Plan on Plastic Waste Management 2021 - 2030 was developed to promote the 3R concept (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle). This proactive and preventive approach stems from the policy statement of “Vistas of Prosperity”. The Action Plan sets out sixteen goals to be achieved during this period, which include pilot implementation of the extended producer responsibility (EPR) concept, inventory, and monitoring mechanism for all entries and exits of plastics in the country. The action plan also promotes targets such as 80% reduction in production and consumption of single use plastics by 2025, increasing plastic waste recycling from 4% to 15% by 2025 and increasing collection and recycling of PET bottle rates from 27% to 100% by 2025.

In Sri Lanka, local authorities - 24 Municipal councils (Municipal Council Ordinance) , 41 Urban councils (Urban Council Ordinance) and 276 Local councils (Pradeshiya Sabha Act No 15 of

1987), have been given the mandate for waste collection and disposal. In addition to the local authorities, there are a number of central and provincial level institutions such as the Ministry of Environment, State Ministry of Provincial Councils and Local Government Affairs, State Ministry of Urban Development, Waste Disposal, and Community Cleanliness, Central Environmental Authority and Western Province Waste Management Authority that oversee the area of waste management.

There have been numerous efforts to improve waste management service delivery in the country. The “Pilisaru project” was launched by the Central Environmental Authority with the aim of a waste free Sri Lanka by 2018. In recent years, Sri Lanka has seen Gazettes/directives prohibiting the use of polythene and sachets for FMCG items such as shampoos.

State of Waste Management Service Delivery

Organic materials make up 54.9%1 of the waste composition in Sri Lanka. Plastics make up 12.4% and paper & paper boards total 12.1%. In 2007, 2,838 MT2 were collected per day and this is only a fraction of the total municipal solid waste. Whilst urban rates are significantly higher, as a country-wide average, only 20%3 of households have access to waste collection services, 47% burn their waste, 23% dispose of waste in communities and natural environments and 8% practice backyard composting. It is estimated that Colombo generates 10% of the total waste, contributing approximately 2.5% of the total population.

The waste collection network in Sri Lanka is primarily driven by the informal waste collection sector. However, little emphasis is placed on the health and safety aspects and waste collectors continue to be an underrepresented yet essential role. The recycling efforts in Sri Lanka are dependent on these informal collectors, formal collectors and local authorities. However, with no uniform level of segregation and varying collection frequencies, there is currently a very low level of recycling in Sri Lanka, which is expected to have further reduced in the last two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Key waste management issues raised by key stakeholders and highlighted in policies include:

● lack of available sites for dumping

● lack of financial assistance

● local political conflicts

● limited collection system

● lack of waste stream segregation

● lack of public awareness, engagement, and ownership of solid waste management

● lack of enabling technology

Plastics Waste

Sri Lanka has seen a rapid increase in plastics production and importation. The government has promoted a “polluter pays” concept, which will ideally ensure the polluter pays for the “costs of

1USAID CCBO Initial Solid Waste Management Assessment - Sri Lanka & Maldives 2 Solid Waste Management Report 2007 3 USAID CCBO Initial Solid Waste Management Assessment - Sri Lanka & Maldives pollution prevention and control measures”. There is also an additional cess levy added on to plastics being imported into Sri Lanka.

As of 2020, approximately 938 MT/day4 of plastic waste is generated. Waste was disposed of as follows:

● 419 MT/day openly burnt on individual premises,

● 262 MT/day disposed of in open dumps,

● 140 MT/day self-disposed at individual premises,

● 70 MT/day illegally dumped,

● 38 MT/day were recycled,

● 8 MT/day disposed of to water sources

There are now some private sector initiatives to manage the plastics recovery processes.

However, the recycling and upscaling efforts are hampered by poor segregation of waste, and the cost of sorting and cleaning waste. There are numerous small and medium enterprises carrying out recycling activities, but they have difficulty reaching financial viability at scale.

Recent disasters

The topic of waste management and waste disposal practices was heavily scrutinized when on April 14, 2017,the Meethotamulla garbage dump landslide destroyed neighboring houses, caused 32 deaths, with 8 more missing, and affected a total of 1,765 people.

The issue of microplastics disposal and ocean pollution received attention when in May 2021, the X-press Pearl container ship sank off the coast of Colombo. In its cargo, the ship was transporting over 75T of nurdles (polyethylene pellets for plastic bags) which have since washed ashore and been spotted along the Western coast of Sri Lanka.

V. Maldives Background

The Maldives is an archipelago of 26 low-lying coral atolls in the Indian ocean. The country consists of a total of 1190 small tropical islands out of which only 358 are used for economic activities and human settlement. More than 80% of the Maldives’ land area is less than 1 meter above sea level. The driving force of the Maldives’ economy is tourism, which contributes about one third of the gross domestic product (GDP) and is also the fastest growing economic sector within the country. The second largest economic sector is fisheries, which contributes to around 7% of the nation’s GDP and provides direct or indirect income to more than 20% of the population. Both fisheries and a vast portion of the tourism industry’s infrastructure are primarily located in regions that are within 100m of the coastline, which makes the Maldivian economy particularly sensitive to sea level rise and coastal storms. The archipelago is becoming increasingly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Human activities causing damage to the country's coral reef systems exacerbate these effects leading to reduced fish populations, beach erosion and saltwater intrusion into freshwater tables.

4 USAID CCBO Private sector landscape analysis - Sri Lanka

The Maldives faces a unique set of challenges in managing a rapidly growing volume of waste.

Given its dispersed geography and a host of other unique challenges such as extremely limited amounts of land to store waste, the country has been overwhelmed by managing not only its domestic waste, but also the marine debris generated by other countries that is carried to its shores by ocean currents. Population growth, changing consumption patterns, rapid tourism development, and the lack of waste management infrastructure has exacerbated the issue.

Although there is limited data on the total quantity of waste generated in the country, waste generation is estimated at 170, 000 T of waste per year5. The per capita waste generated per day is estimated at 1.7kg in the Male’ region, 0.8kg in the outer islands, and 3.5kg in the tourist resorts. Of this, biodegradable waste constitutes as the largest proportion of the total waste that is generated. Greenhouse gas emissions from waste accounted for 5% of the total emissions in 2015.

The main method of waste management is uncontrolled open burning. However, composting, and small-scale incineration is practiced in some islands. Although household segregation is generally not practiced in the Maldives, there are plans to begin household segregation in Male’ region from 2022. A survey of 79 islands carried out by the Ministry of Environment in 2015 showed that only few islands practice waste segregation (25% islands) at household level.

Partial segregation is practiced in 5% of islands, where segregation is usually limited to combustible and non-combustible waste. The bulk of the waste generated in the Male region is transported by boat daily as mixed and untreated waste to Thilafushi, an island close to Male.

Recycling is not common in the Maldives, particularly due to the lack of sufficient financial and technical capacity in the islands. Participation of the private sector is challenging in the short to medium term because of minimal economies of scale benefits and the lack of finance and management capacity.

Currently, the Maldives lacks:

● mechanisms for the segregation and separate collection of waste and plastics;

● a systematic collection mechanism to extract single use and recyclable plastic waste from the general waste stream; and

● technical infrastructure for pre-sorting, sorting and recycling.

Key Statistics

● urban areas, particularly the Male’ region is estimated to generate more than half of the total waste generated within the country

● island communities account for 28% of waste generated

● tourist resorts and safaris account for approximately 21% of the total waste generated

● In 2018, 280,000 PET bottles were discarded in the capital Male’ alone, and 104 million plastic bags were imported into the Maldives.

Policy Context

5 Biannual Update Report (BUR) 2020

The National Waste Management Policy of 2015 is the overall guiding framework for waste management in the Maldives. The policy is built on promoting best practices in waste management, including through the integration of the waste hierarchy pyramid of prevention, reduction, reuse, recycle, waste to energy, and disposal. However, the policy still lacks the demarcated roles and responsibilities for various stakeholders.

The Single Use Plastic Phase out Plan 2020-2023 set out target dates for ban of selected plastic products imported and produced in the country, as well as imposition of taxes and extended producer responsibility (EPR) policies on selected single use plastic products. Long term targets under this Plan include providing variety of affordable, and accessible non single use plastic alternatives to consumers by 2030; establishing regulations to promote circular economy for different sectors in the country by 2030; and establishing by 2030 at least one recycling facility in Maldives that has pre-sorting, sorting and recycling technologies.

Under the Decentralization Act (7/2010), the island councils are responsible for sanitary solid waste management. However, households and businesses frequently dump solid waste in the ocean, or on uncontrolled dumpsites where it is burned periodically.

A key pillar of the Government’s policy is the establishment of Regional Waste Management Centers (RWMCs) in designated zones across the archipelago to provide treatment and disposal services for the inorganic and un-compostable organic waste that Island Waste Management Centers (IWMC) have collected from their island communities in each zone.

Link to USAID Mission Strategy and Agency Goals

This program contributes to the objectives of the U.S. State Department’s Maldives Integrated Country Strategy6. In addition, activities under the expected program are intended to support the USAID’s strategic approach to advance the U.S. Government’s Indo-Pacific Vision. Specifically, the program will contribute to the strategic pillar on the improved management of natural resources by supporting environmental safeguards and adoption of environmental standards.

6 https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/ICS-Maldives_UNCLASS-508.pdf https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/ICS-Maldives_UNCLASS-508.pdf