In the absence of effective coastal protection measures, low-lying countries face inevitable losses from coastal erosion and coastal flooding under future scenarios of sea level rise and climate change. The Republic of Maldives, the flattest and the lowest-lying country on earth, is one of the most vulnerable countries to the consequences of climate change. Any impacts to the coastline would directly impact the lives and livelihoods of the people, because of the proximity of settlements to the coastline and the dependence of the country’s income on beach tourism. However, the increasing cost of these measures, resulting from evolving technical designs and increasing material prices, coupled with the politicized and ad-hoc nature of coastal protection decision making in the Republic of Maldives, has meant that coastal protection measures are inefficient and costly. Thus, there is a critical need for a method of systematic evaluation of protection measures to aid coastal protection decision making in the Republic of Maldives.

This research identified strategic information that would support the selection and implementation of appropriate coastal protection measures. Surveys of local stakeholders and professionals in the Republic of Maldives were used to identify the level of local stakeholders’ knowledge and contribution in the decision making, professionals perception towards common coastal protection measures, and the key parameters and factors that could be used to evaluate the measures. Survey information, together with a thorough review of relevant decision support frameworks, policies, and coastal protection measures in the country and elsewhere, were used to device a coastal protection decision support framework, named THOSHI, for the Republic of Maldives.

This study found that coastal protection decision making in the Republic of Maldives needs a more systematic approach to reduce duplication, increase efficiency and enable the selection of appropriate measures for its varied island environments. Even though local stakeholders possess critical information useful for the decision-making process, currently there is minimal involvement of them in coastal protection decision making and the current institutional and policy framework for coastal protection in the country is inadequate, ineffective and weak. A survey of local stakeholders and industry professionals found that soft coastal protection options are not perceived to be viable solutions for the Republic of Maldives, if used exclusively. The survey also identified that the most important parameters for technical evaluation of coastal protection measures are technical viability, multi-hazard resiliency, and socio-aesthetic and environmental acceptability. The technical evaluation component of THOSHI was built on these parameters and used available cost data to design the financial evaluation component. The results of the case studies confirmed the applicability of THOSHI to different island environments and the ability of THOSHI to take into account unique stakeholder requirements and also conflicts between those requirements and technical considerations. For the problems identified in the case studies, the measures proposed through THOSHI were either identical or better solutions, both technically and financially, than the ones currently implemented.

It is expected that the application of THOSHI will facilitate decision makers in strategically evaluating and selecting feasible coastal protection measures for the Republic of Maldives, while also improving documentation, communication and collaboration with stakeholders.