Logos Maldives Meteorological Service Goddard Space Flight Center University of Peradeniya USAID Ministry of Disaster Management The Maldives National University Foundation for Environment, Climate and Technology

Summary Report 2018 – 2019

Contents

  • Highlights
  • Scientific Presentations
  • Data
  • Instrumentation
  • Climate Advisories
  • Drought Portal for Maldives and Sri Lanka
  • Disaster Communication Portals 
  • IRI Data Library
  • Capacity Building
  • Supplementary STEM Project in the Maldives
  • Proposal Development and Research Outputs 
  • New Institutions

Highlights

During this reporting period, we have advanced substantially in finalizing our outputs and communication of our results. This included through scientific presentations, and drafting 6 research papers which are available as technical reports. The investigators wrote one news feature in relation to hazards and were cited in prominent articles on artificial rain making to deal with drought.  In addition our ongoing communication of climate, climate related hazards and disaster information continued via blogs, twitter and Facebook weekly.  

Dengue in Maldives and Air Quality in both countries were seen as key areas which we contributed to. Through this work, we established a new network. The health officer in the US Embassy for these countries has been in touch with us in this regard. We organized new data especially in relation to air pollution as it became available. We maintained our instruments and undertook calibration of these. We are continuing the work on data and instruments and writing papers after the project is over.  These shall be reported in our project website (http://www.climate.lk/hazards_climate/). Drought portals for Maldives and Sri Lanka have been developed. An expansive Disaster portal for Sri Lanka was established and one for Maldives is being developed. 

We have continued our work in capacity building such as training junior scientists, teaching and supporting teaching in the Maldives National University and the University of Peradeniya. One of our alumni – Aishath Afaaf – is now in charge of Disaster Risk Management in the Maldivian capital working for the Red Cross / Crescent. Work on the supplementary STEM project in the middle schools of Maldives is going well under the leadership of Small Island Research Group / Centre in the Maldives and shall be reported separately. These projects enabled us to apply for several other grants and some of them are in progress. 

This work made us realize how central disasters were to both countries. So as to be able to focus on this work, expand the remit into even man-made disaster, and sustain the work, we supported the registration of FECT as an NGO in Maldives – this is led by Maldivian partners – Hudha Ahmed and Mizna Mohamed and a new non-profit organization “Disaster Services”. These shall be eligible for a wider range of activities and grants than at present. 

Our work in both Maldives and Sri Lanka are continuing – and we look forward to reporting on further outputs and progress via our website. 

Scientific Presentations 

During this period, FECT junior scientist Ashara Nijamdeen and senior scientist Lareef Zubair attended the American Geo Physical Union Fall meeting 2018 held in Washington DC, US and were able to present three posters on Particulate Measurements in Sri Lanka, Climate Impacts on Tea and Climate and Dengue in the Maldives. 

They met with scientists from Columbia University (Michael Bell, Asher Siebert, and Alexandra Karambelosos), City University of New York (Naresh Devenini), Michigan State University (Amor Ines), and University of Missouri (Noel Aloysius) among others. Valuable feedback and further suggestions were provided by visitors to the posters which were documented. Based on these posters, research papers are being drafted for submission. We were also able to visit the other related poster presentations and the stalls. 

Data

We compiled data and documentation was undertaken on weather, climate, hazards and its impacts.  We continued to collect detailed data (weather, wind and air quality) in Sri Lanka (Norachcholai, Kalpitiya, Nawalapitiya, and Kandy).

Instrumentation

We have setup 9 Air pollution monitors and 10 weather stations in Sri Lanka and Maldives. In the Maldives, the instruments are at SIRC, Maathoda and the Thinadhoo School.  We visited the US embassy premises and Law and Society Trust premises in Sri Lanka to download data and calibrate the instruments. We found that all four instruments calibrated well with the EPA certified US embassy instrument. Data was subject to quality control procedures. 

Climate Advisories

We continued to support decision making by water and environmental and natural resource managers through providing a weekly and monthly climate reports for Maldives and Sri Lanka.

Disaster Case Studies

We continued research on drought in Greater Male Islands, and reviewed hazard risk in Southern Maldives Islands, flood events in Akurana, Kandy, Ratnapura and in air quality studies in Puttalam District.

Drought Portal for Maldives and Sri Lanka

We have compiled our information for a scientifically sound introduction to climate and drought information in our portal at http://tropicalclimate.org/maldives/drought/ for Maldives and http://tropicalclimate.org/sri_lanka/drought/ for Sri Lanka. These portals have substantial information but require further improvement to make it current. A for Children’s section is included. 

Disaster Communication Portals 

We set up a web portal for access to Disaster Information in Sri Lanka www.disaster.lk

This website lists the main disasters in recent decades in Sri Lanka and we shall make it a portal for further information access. Associated with it, we set up web2.0 media such as Twitter, Facebook, Blogs and an emailing program. 

A similar portal is to be developed in the Maldives. Now that the registration of FECT in the Maldives was completed in few months back, we need to set up a bank account  to obtain memorable URLs such as www.climate.mv . In the meantime, our results are being reported to the Maldives via www.tropicalclimate.org/maldives and @fecmv. 

IRI Data Library

The advanced database and analysis system for climate analysis that had been developed by the US partners institute – the IRI Data Library (http://iridl.ldeo.columbia.edu) – works well in the FECT offices. The data library at FECT enabled us to develop our data sets, train junior scientists in its use and to generate sustained monitoring and prediction systems for the long-term.

Capacity Building

We oriented staff with individual instruction and provided training for more senior roles. Content from the course was included in course taught by the Investigators and Partners the Maldives National University and University of Peradeniya. One of the staff members joined the Red Cross in Maldives and is in charge of work in Male now.

Supplementary STEM Project in the Maldives

Instrument preparation, Document preparation, and trialing of procedures was undertaken. Permissions were obtained for the work in the Thinadhdhoo School and we are awaiting the respond to the SIRC requests for permission for the Huvadhoo School in Maathoda. These schools shall conduct a science fair workshop in July of 2019. The PI for the project has been appointed as one of the main ministers of the new government in November 2018. Therefore, his work is being coordinated by others at SIRC.  

Proposal Development and Research Outputs 

During this quarter we developed concept notes for the grants for 

  • USAID Social Cohesion program – Under Review
  • Lemonaid Livelihood Grants – To be reviewed in the future.
  • Japanese Embassy Grassroots Human Security Program  - Under Review
  • PEER Cycle 8 – Preproposal – Encouraged. 
  • US State Department/Embassy for Sri Lanka and Maldives – Invited concept note submission on Air Quality to program on Environmental Quality. 

New Institutions

Building on the work of this project, and another project on man-made disasters, we set up two new non-profit research and action entity called 

  • Foundation for Environment, Climate and Technology – Maldives and 
  • “Disaster Services” which shall explicitly focus on Disasters. 

These organizations are formally registered as of March 2019. We intend to sustain the work on Disasters through these entities.