The President’s Office has stated the Ocean Use Survey is receiving a significantly high engagement from respondents.
The President’s Office stated 18 facilitators have been active in various parts of the country in the last three months and that the survey now includes responses from 1,900 participants representing 7,500 people from 16 atolls.
The Ocean Use Survey is a participatory mapping survey that asks respondents to identify areas in the marine environment that they value or use. The survey is conducted by the Noo Raajje programme, which is a partnership between the Government of the Maldives and the Blue Prosperity Coalition. Noo Raajje aims to develop and implement solutions for long-term sustainable ocean management and resource utilisation, form the necessary regulatory framework to support sustainable management, and create a blue economy strategy.
Blue Prosperity is an international coalition of partners engaging with countries to designate and implement 30% marine protection and establish a Blue Prosperity Plan through Marine Spatial Planning (MSP), which is an approach that uses spatial information about natural resources and human uses to develop a comprehensive management system.
Noo Raajje began the Ocean Use Survey in 2020 to collect data for the MSP in order to better support the activities of the blue economy and map the utilisation of ocean resources.