Read the Press Statement in English/Dhivehi
11 February 2025
Corruption and Climate Change: Maldives’ Decline in the Corruption Perception Index 2024
Corruption Perception Index (CPI) and Maldives’ score
The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2024 released today by Transparency International reveals that the Maldives, has fallen one point in the CPI score, from 39 to 38, and remains amongst the two-thirds of countries to score below 50.
The CPI annually scores and ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived level of public sector corruption, drawing on surveys and expert assessments. This year, the CPI is focused on how corruption undermines climate action globally. The index uses a scale of zero to 100, where zero is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean. The Maldives, with a score of 38, is ranked 96 out of 180 countries in the CPI 2024.
The Maldives’ 2024 score was drawn from the composite assessment of three international sources: Global Insight Country Risk Ratings, Varieties of Democracy Project, and World Bank Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA).
The Maldives’ score and ranking demonstrates that there has been little to no progress on the efforts against anti-corruption. This score highlights the need for strengthened investigation, prosecution and implementation of laws to hold corrupt political and public officials accountable. The country’s systemic corruption continues to manifest at the highest levels of power, reflecting the need for strengthened reforms in the areas of declaration of interests and recovery of assets stolen through corruption. It also reflects the failure to hold to account those responsible for many previous grand corruption scandals, which has far-reaching and devastating consequences, undermining public trust, weakening democratic principles, and diverting critical resources away from essential public services.
Weak Governance, Lack of Accountability and the need for the Government to enhance Anti-Corruption Efforts
The absence of a strong regulatory framework and insufficient oversight are critical factors contributing to the lack of transparency and the persistence of impunity among wrongdoers. This creates an environment where corruption becomes persistent and prevail in public institutions. The introduction of robust anti-corruption laws and meaningful implementation on critical areas such as asset declaration and asset recovery are essential in curbing corruption and stopping unjust enrichment.
Independent oversight bodies, who, through their autonomous functioning safeguard essential rights of the public. However, most independent oversight bodies are unable to effectively and independently carryout their mandate to monitor the executive’s activities due to financial and other technical constraints and political influence.
Hesitancy to report corruption stems from lack of public trust, delays and denial of justice. Though the Protection of Whistleblowers Act has been in effect since 2019, implementation has been weak, discouraging reports of corruption due to fear of retaliation. Greater transparency around legal and administrative decisions are critical to bring public confidence in the state and foster a safe space for exercising rights.
Decisions relating to citizens and residents must follow a bottom-up approach where meaningful consultations are held with all relevant stakeholders including civil society, local communities, and marginalized groups. Adopting participatory governance strengthens transparency, accountability, and public trust.
The government must also commit to institutionalization of inclusive decision-making processes especially with the recent signing of the Open Government Partnership (OGP). Additionally, as a party to the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), the state must enhance anti-corruption efforts through strengthened enforcement mechanisms and fostering multi-stakeholder collaboration both at the national and international level to combat corruption at all levels.
CPI 2024: Corruption and the Climate Crisis
As the theme for CPI 2024 explains, two of the biggest challenges humanity faces are strongly intertwined: corruption and the climate crisis. Billions of people around the world suffer the consequences of climate change, as funds intended to help countries cut greenhouse gas emissions and protect vulnerable populations are stolen or misused through corruption. This is especially concerning to countries such as the Maldives, bracketed within the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) group, that are most vulnerable to the consequences of climate change. Corruption in the form of undue influence obstructs policies aimed at managing the climate crisis and leads to environmental damage. Where corruption exists, climate action often fails or does not even take place.
Though corruption is a major obstacle that hinders climate action in the Maldives, the impact of corruption on climate action is often overlooked, particularly in land reclamation and island leasing. In reclamation projects, manipulated Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs), destruction of reefs, lack of prior consultation with affected communities and weak public oversight enables politically driven developments that sideline environmental concerns. Similarly, opaque island leasing practices prioritize private interests over climate resilience, leads to weakened environmental policies.
The recent decision to combine the Ministry of Climate Change, Environment and Energy and Ministry of Tourism is concerning and raises questions concerning the government’s commitment to effective climate action. Poor planning, lack of transparency, possible conflicts of interests, conflicting mandates are a few instances that could potentially lead to major undermining of climate risks and increased corruption vulnerability within the sector.
The lack of transparency and accountability in climate action a key avenue for corruption—leads to superficial consultations and restricted stakeholder input, resulting in inefficient adaptation and mitigation measures. In a climate-vulnerable country like the Maldives, corruption also threatens lifesaving climate funds, not only diverting resources away from those who need them most but also weakening essential resilience measures. Without robust early warning systems, community trainings, and integration of adaptation strategies, vulnerable communities remain exposed to rising sea levels, coastal erosion, and extreme weather events.
A just climate transition requires cooperation between government, businesses, civil society organizations, and affected communities to establish a new, integrity-driven approach to climate action. Strengthening anti-corruption safeguards is essential to ensure climate initiatives are effective, equitable, and truly contribute to solving the climate crisis and achieving sustainability.
Transparency Maldives echoes the call made by Transparency International and calls on the Maldivian state to:
Strengthen the integrity and safeguarding of climate initiatives:
- Establish the EPA as an independent body with autonomous and consistent funding, protected from arbitrary political influence, to ensure transparency and effectiveness in environmental governance
- Implement a system to assess contractors’ capabilities before awarding projects. Effective project planning is crucial to prevent unnecessary expenses and other complications that may arise due to inadequate preparation
- Provide easy access to information by proactively disclosing reports and project finance documents, especially to the communities these projects seek to serve.
Improve disaster preparedness systems:
- Conduct regular disaster response drills and training for local communities. Establish clear coordination between government agencies, local councils, and emergency responders.
- Implement nature-based solutions like mangrove restoration and artificial reefs to reduce erosion and storm impact.
- Incorporate knowledge of the local context to supplement technical knowledge regarding disaster preparedness planning.
Enhance Transparency and Accountability Throughout All Stages of Climate Action Projects:
- Publish in a timely and accessible way, all documents and information regarding project implementation and monitoring and make it available online to the public. The information such as Monitoring and Evaluation reports, audits, finance reports, project documents and similar items should be timely updated.
- Ensure that Climate projects are monitored by a third party or an independent monitoring body. Watchdog government agencies such as the Anti-Corruption Commission, Auditor General’s Office and CSOs play an active role in holding project implementing entities to account.
Improve access to justice:
- Simplify legal procedures and expand access to justice to all victims of corruption. Implementation of whistle-blower protections and other legal protections must be strengthened to encourage reporting and safeguard those who expose corruption.
Stronger regulatory framework:
- Introduce and enforce key anti-corruption related legislation around Asset Declaration and Asset Recovery to integrate a uniform system for public officials. Strengthening these legal frameworks will help prevent conflicts of interest, enhance transparency, and address cases of illicit enrichment by public officials.
Make justice more transparent:
- Increase public trust in state institutions by proactively disclosing and publishing annual reports, policies, strategies, and other important documents in an accessible format and further establish a central database in the climate change sector to allow for easier access to information and greater transparency.
Uphold International Anti-Corruption Commitments:
- Commit to international principles under UNCAC and OGP to enhance transparency, accountability, and public participation to align with the best global practices in combatting corruption.
Improve public participation and strengthen decentralization:
- Strengthen citizen engagement, meaningful consultation, and inclusive participation to build public trust especially when changes to laws and policies are decisions that directly impact the lives of people. Principles of decentralization as enshrined in our constitution must be upheld to empower local councils and strengthen democracy.
Strengthen capacity and resources of oversight and investigative institutions to conduct full, transparent, and timely investigation and prosecution:
- Ensure that anti-corruption authorities and oversight institutions have sufficient funds, resources, and independence to perform their duties, free from intimidation and political influence.
-ENDS-