A spell of haze continues to affect parts of the Maldives, reducing visibility and impacting air quality. The episode has again drawn attention to a recurring feature of the northeast monsoon season: how pollution generated thousands of kilometres away can travel across the Indian Ocean and settle over small island states with little control over its source.
Meteorologists in the Maldives have attributed the haze to polluted air masses arriving from northern India and the Himalayan region, a pattern that scientists have documented for decades. During the winter months, prevailing winds and stable atmospheric conditions over South Asia can trap emissions close to the ground, allowing fine particles from transport, industry, power generation, household burning and, seasonally, agricultural fires to build up and then move downwind over the ocean. Research linked to the Maldives Climate Observatory at Hanimaadhoo describes the Maldives as a “receptor site” for long-range transport of pollutants, including what has been termed the atmospheric brown cloud.
That does not mean the Maldives is a passive bystander in every sense. Local sources like traffic, diesel generators, harbour activity and open burning can add to background pollution, particularly in densely populated areas. But the sharp, seasonal character of the haze, and the country’s geography far from major industrial belts, help explain why transboundary pollution is often the dominant driver during the northeast monsoon. Measurements and studies of the South Asian outflow over the northern Indian Ocean consistently show that wintertime aerosol loads are shaped by emissions transported from the subcontinent.
For the public, haze is not just an inconvenience or a spoiled skyline. It is a health issue because the most harmful component is often PM2.5, fine particulate matter small enough to penetrate deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream. The World Health Organization links particulate exposure to cardiovascular and respiratory disease risks and has steadily tightened its guideline levels as evidence has grown. Even when air quality readings fall short of emergency thresholds, repeated episodes can still matter for vulnerable groups, including children, older people, and those with underlying heart or lung conditions.
Haze can also carry economic and operational consequences. Reduced visibility affects aviation procedures and marine navigation, while perceptions of poor air quality can sit uneasily alongside the Maldives’ image as a pristine, open-air destination. The larger concern is what these episodes reveal about the region’s shared exposure: a country can meet domestic environmental goals and still face pollution that arrives on the wind.
If there is a policy lesson for the Maldives, it may be that air quality is not only a national issue but a diplomatic one. South Asia already has a regional framework that, at least on paper, anticipates this challenge. The Malé Declaration on Control and Prevention of Air Pollution and Its Likely Transboundary Effects for South Asia, adopted in 1998 under the South Asia Co-operative Environment Programme (SACEP), was created to encourage monitoring, information-sharing and cooperative action on cross-border air pollution. In practice, its visibility in public debate has been limited, and its ambitions have often been constrained by the wider politics of regional cooperation.
A more credible regional approach would treat haze the way the region increasingly treats cyclones and disease outbreaks: as a shared risk requiring shared systems. That could include coordinated seasonal forecasting and early-warning advisories, common standards for monitoring stations and data transparency, and practical cooperation on the biggest emission sources. In South Asia, that often means sustained work to cut wintertime PM2.5 at the source through cleaner industrial fuels, tighter vehicle and power-plant controls, and alternatives to open burning in agriculture and waste management, paired with financing and technology support that make compliance realistic rather than symbolic. Scientific institutions like ICIMOD, alongside UN agencies and regional bodies, could help anchor the work in shared evidence rather than national blame.
For the Maldives, the immediate advice during haze episodes remains simple: reduce exposure when air quality worsens, especially for high-risk groups. But the longer-term answer lies beyond national borders. The haze that drifts over the atolls each dry season is, in effect, a reminder that for small island states, environmental security is often inseparable from regional cooperation.
