Aldabra Clean Up Project

The Aldabra Atoll in the outer Seychelles has managed to escape many human threats over the centuries and remains a unique and isolated haven for biodiversity in the Indian Ocean becoming a UNESCO world heritage site in 1982 and described by Sir David Attenborough as ‘One of the world's greatest surviving natural treasures'. However, Aldabra has not remained immune to one of the newly discovered threats to our oceans - plastic waste. The positioning of the islands and the surrounding current network has resulted in a massive build up of ocean plastic across the Atoll. This combined with the islands remoteness and difficulty to access means that it has been impossible up until now to clear the island of this rubbish. As can be imagined, plastic pollution at this level is having seriously detrimental effects on the unique island wildlife both on land and in the surrounding ocean habitats. OUR MISSION We are a collaborative, international project involving the Seychelles Islands foundation, The Queen's College, Oxford, Students from the University of Oxford and young conservationists from the Seychelles. We are planning an expedition to Aldabra Atoll to clear the island of man-made rubbish and restore the island to it's former pristine state. Whilst doing this we hope to quantify the amount and types of plastic that are finding their way onto the island and find a sustainable way to process it. We also hope to shine a light on the situation in Aldabra and promote more broadly the reduction of plastic waste for the benefit of our oceans and natural ecosystems. Follow our story as we prepare for and embark on this challenging and exciting expedition to one of the remotest islands in the Ocean.