In a devastating blow to the Maldives' environmental heritage, a catastrophic fire swept through the Ministry of Climate Change, Environment and Energy building on December 12, 2024, destroying the nation's primary environmental data repository.

"What's lost is the entire life of the Environment Ministry," said Mohamed Zahir (Meemu Zaviyani), Director General of the Environment Ministry. "Forty years of history... gone."

The incident, one of the most severe to strike a government facility in recent history, has obliterated four decades of meticulous environmental research and documentation. Among the irretrievable losses are comprehensive records of Maldivian seas, reefs and vegetation – crucial chronicles that formed the backbone of the nation's natural heritage documentation.

Zahir explained that the five-storey Green Building caught fire due to the intense heat radiating from the burning tin building next door. He said that when he arrived at the scene, there was no fire in the Green Building – it only started catching fire later.

Zahir and his colleagues, who had poured their hearts and souls into their work, could only watch helplessly as flames spread from the main building to consume the Green Building. For them, this was not just a government structure crumbling to ash – it was their second home, filled with personal belongings and years of bittersweet memories now turning to smoke before their eyes.

The devastation continued through the night, with Zahir and his colleagues working until 2 a.m. on December 13, desperately retrieving heat-warped hard drives from smoke-damaged servers after firefighters contained the blaze.

"Nobody could hold back their tears," Zahir shared, his words capturing the collective grief that swept through the ministry staff. He repeatedly stated that the fire was a major loss and that he himself was at a loss for what to do.

For Zahir, who established the government's first environmental office forty years ago and has provided numerous invaluable environmental services to the Maldives, this catastrophe carries a particularly profound weight. Despite surviving a horrific house fire 25 years ago, he confessed that Thursday's loss cut deeper – every photograph, research paper and data point carefully preserved over the years, now reduced to ashes.

Zahir also requested the public to share any relevant data that could help rebuild the archive, as so much history has been lost.

As the Government rushes to restore operations at Dharubaaruge, the true impact of this disaster extends far beyond physical damage. What perished in those flames wasn't merely a building – it was the institutional memory of the Maldives' environmental journey, a loss that neither insurance can compensate, nor reconstruction can restore.