THE PLACE YOU’RE PROTECTING
With your M.I.A. x Clean Waves sunglasses, you’re protecting the island of Laabadhoo in the southern Maldives.
An uninhabited stretch of brilliant green jungle and powder-soft white sand rising just a few feet above the ocean, Laabadhoo is the site of Parley Station 1: a string of low-impact buildings currently in development which will be the base for Parley’s ocean programs in the Maldives and beyond.
Island: Laabadhoo, Maldives
Distance from Malé: 409 km
Atoll: Northern Huvadhoo
Island use: Parley Station 1
Area: 7.3 ha
Length x width: 442 x 234 m
Population: 0
A REMOTE WORLD
Laabadhoo is part of the Northern Huvadhoo Atoll – a sparkling ring of unspoiled islands in the south of the Maldives. Carried on the waves, plastic pollution from the open ocean washes up on the atoll's white sand beaches. Blown by the wind, this toxic debris accumulates along the tideline and inland – threatening these fragile island ecosystems and the people who depend on them.
PLASTIC IN THE MALDIVES
A string of coral atolls dotted across more than 35,000 square miles of open ocean, the Maldives is one of most unique places on Earth. More than a thousand individual islands stretch north to south across a vast area of the Indian Ocean, forming a double row of 26 atolls.
Above the waves, sparkling white beaches give way to tiny green jungles. Below the surface, thousands of species of fish, coral and other marine creatures thrive in the sunlit shallows. Each island is like a miniature world, and each one needs protecting.
The Maldives accumulate drifting plastic pollution from the Indian subcontinent, Africa, Asia and the wider world – and also from the small nation’s booming tourist industry. More than 1.3 million people visited last year – more than triple of the country’s population.
Intercepting marine plastic and reducing waste at source will be key steps in protecting this fragile ecosystem. The Maldives are remote, but there is no ‘away’
PARADISE PROTECTED
Your support directly funds the protection of this unique place in two ways. Working with Parley and our partners in the Maldives, you are making it possible to intercept plastic waste on Laabadhoo and upcycle it. You're also supporting education and infrastructure projects to reduce plastic at source – an essential part of our mission in the atoll and beyond.
WELCOME TO THE MOVEMENT
Your sunglasses are just the beginning of the Clean Waves journey. In the months ahead, we’ll take you to Laabadhoo and other islands through exclusive content and explore how your support helps us protect these fragile marine ecosystems from plastic pollution.
It's great to have you onboard.