Ahmed Waheed, Fighting to Halt Male’ City Council’s Operations at Villin’gili Beach

“From the youngest to the eldest, this is the only area that we can use as a proper beach. Whether you are from Malé or a different island, this is the only beach that we have left here.”

Ahmed Waheed is among residents of Villingili who have been lobbying for the protection of the beach following the deforestation of the Eastern shoreline that began earlier this year in March, for the development of a fiberglass boatyard.

According to the regulations under the Ministry of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, all fiberglass work must be conducted within an enclosed area that is properly ventilated and situated at least 350 feet away from any residential or recreational areas. However, the recent activities at the Eastern beach go directly against these directives and the citizens have been bearing the brunt of the consequences.

Waheed, who has been living on the island for the past 40 years, expressed the severity of what losing yet another natural habitat would mean for the residents of the island and the regular visitors of the beach.
“The actions taken by the City Council are very clearly wrong and dangerous. We cannot even fathom how hazardous fiberglass is for both our environment and our own health.”

“Everyone living in the Greater Malé area needs a beach like this for swimming. The beaches in Malé have too many rocks to be used properly or even to do watersports at — so this is the only remaining beach we have to go for a swim, to get some fresh air, or to even experience a change of environment.”
He also noted, “there are a lot of runners who come to the beach daily and there are a lot of people who come to swim here, where will they go now?”

With urgency in his voice, Waheed says that “there are not many places that the elderly, like myself, can go to relax or even go for a swim” and says that the older generations especially depend on the beach to get their required dose of physical exercise. In the same breath, he asked healthcare professionals to join this fight and to not “just sit idly after advising us to take care of our health. Please make sure that we also have means of maintaining a healthy lifestyle.”

Tensions had been building among the community for several years against physical alterations to the remaining few natural habitats in the area and Waheed has been working alongside ‘SaveTheBeach’, an environmental NGO, to protect the beaches of the island, much like its custodians.

Waheed sincerely requested all organizational bodies responsible for the degradation and mismanagement to “please come to a different decision and save our beaches” and pleaded with them to fulfill “their obligations of not only ensuring our protection but the protection of our natural habitats as well.”

#SaveVillingiliBeach

– Photostories Series in Partnership with Save the Beach Maldives