The World Bank Mission team met with the Ministry of Climate Change, Environment and Energy (MoCCEE) as part of its support and implementation mission from the 15th to the 23rd of September 2024. The meeting was led by Mr. Jerome Bezzina (Task Team Leader, Sr. Digital Development Specialist), and included Ms. Anna Metz (co-Task Team Leader, Sr. Digital Development Specialist) along with Dr. Ibrahim Waheed (Project Manager), Mr. Ahmed Haleem (Communications Specialist) and Ms. Fathmath Shafa Hussain (Project Officer) from the D’MADD Project Management Unit.

The activities of component 3 of the project were discussed. The Project Manager, Dr Waheed, explained the status of the pilots, the Multi-Hazard Early warning system, the 3D Mapping of the Addu Reef, and the Passive Acoustic Monitoring project at Rasfari Reef with EPA.

Dr. Waheed thanked the Ministry team for the turnout and support for the stakeholder consultation workshop on the climate data platform. He also thanked the Permanent Secretary Ajwad Musthafa for the support provided, especially as the former Project Director of the D’MADD project, and requested full cooperation from the ministry for successful implementation even though the project has been transferred to the new Ministry of Homeland Security and Technology.

The D’MADD, along with the contractors for the 3 Pilots, intended to train as many personnel as possible so that the technologies could be used sustainably and expanded across the country, enhancing data collection efforts for environmental needs.

Mr Ajwad Musthafa highlighted the difficulties the Ministry is having in obtaining environmental data from other agencies. The World Bank team iterated on the importance of a data-sharing policy for the system to work across the different agencies. Dr Waheed added that the consultants from the data-sharing workshop are currently conducting one-on-one meetings with relevant agencies. Once the assessment is complete, there will be a clearer picture of how to draft the data-sharing SOPs and policies. The meeting concluded with the Ministry sharing some of the different ongoing initiatives by the ministry and how they can monitor the progress using a technology platform.

Mr Ajwad Musthafa (Permanent Secretary), Mr Afsal Hussain (Director), Ms Miruza Mohamed (Director, Environment Management), Ms Haleemath Nahula (Assistant Director), Ms Aishath Nafua (Environment Research Officer], Mr Ahmed Rasheed (Director - Program Research and Advocacy), joined the meeting.