Environment

With our location in the UNESCO world biosphere reserve, conservation of our precious environment is one of our guiding philosophies.

We are participants in the Green Globe certification process which sets strict standards, not just in our environmental actions, but also in ethical business behaviour, fair trade and compliance with international best practices and standards.

How you can help

• Unless you specifically request otherwise, we’ll launder your bedlinens every three days to save water and reduce usage of detergents.
• Please hang your towels on the hook to indicate that you’re happy to re-use them for another day. If you’d like them replaced, please leave them on the floor.
• Many items aren’t easily recycled in the Maldives. We’d greatly appreciate if you could take plastics such as sun cream bottles back home with you for proper recycling. Likewise with batteries and other electrical items you may have finished with.
• Suntan lotions can damage the reef. We kindly ask if you could consider using reef-friendly creams or wear a rash-vest or other clothing to protect you from the sun.
• Never feed the fish. This not only changes their natural behaviour but in many cases can kill them. Fish can’t digest bread or most other human foods.
• Please pay follow the guidelines in your villa about protecting the coral reef
• Never touch any animals you may see (on land or in the water) including turtles, starfish, crabs and seacucumber.
• Our coral reef and lagoon is a marine-protected area. Fishing, crab-hunting, and lobster-catching are all prohibited.
• Please read and understand the guidelines in your villa on interacting with manta rays and whale sharks before joining an excursion to see them.
• It’s illegal to remove sand or shells from our beaches and there are harsh penalties if found in your luggage at the airport. If you must collect shells during your stay we ask that you enjoy their beauty during your visit then replace them before you leave for others to enjoy and for the local wildife to use as nature intended.

What We’re Doing

The protection of our fragile environment is at the forefront of everything we do. Here’s a quick overview of what’s most important to us:

• We have a state-of-the-art water and STP plant ensuring no contaminants enter the ocean and making best practicable re-use of grey water.
• We use accredited eco-friendly chemicals in our laundry and cleaning. Due to the harsh nature of the chemicals involved, we don’t offer dry cleaning services.
• An in-depth environmental impact assessment report was carried out before we began building the island. All guidelines set out in this form have been complied with.
• We have a coral regeneration programme in place. Our guests can support this by ‘adopting’ a reef of their own, planting it and watching it grow over the years.
• We support and work with local charities such as The Manta Trust and Manta Matcher.
• We make it our responsibility to ensure that all of our Milaidhoo Family understand the importance of conservation and take a pledge to personally protect the environment.
• We have a sustainability plan that considers environmental, socio-cultural, quality and health & safety issues. This plan is measured, evaluated and updated annually to ensure continued progress.
• We comply with all local environmental laws, standards and regulations. These are kept updated and referred to regularly.

Who We Work With:

Green Fins

Ocean Stories Aquatic Centre at Milaidhoo is a member of Green Fins. Our marine biologist and the team are dedicated to the care and the protection of marine life and participate in implementing environmental initiatives and educational programmes.

Green Fins is initiative of UNEP (United Nations Environmental Programme) and the Reef-World Foundation. It’s paving the way to unite politics and marine conservation efforts to ensure the sustainability of popular diving and snorkelling destinations around the world. Green fins is a unique approach to conservation designed around threats to coral reef biodiversity

People choosing Green Fins members as their dive and snorkel operators can be assured that members are working to reduce their threats to the marine environment.

Milaidhoo Turtle ID programme

There are seven species of sea turtles worldwide, and five of them can be found in the Maldives with the hawksbill turtle and the green turtle being the most commonly sighted species. By taking pictures of the turtle’s head we can identify which turtle has been seen and add it to our Milaidhoo turtle database. What do we do with this information? Read on:

Olive Ridley Turtle Programme

We’re actively involved in providing data for the charity organisation Olive Ridley Project based in the UK about the olive ridley turtle.

Coral Planting and Reef Restoration

Broken pieces of corals are harvest at the Milaidhoo house reef. These fragments are often broken off by turtles, fish waves or humans.

The fragments will be attached to a so called “coral frame”. After a month the coral fragment will is settled and start slowly to grow and attach to the frame. After a couple of years, the frames will be covered by corals and give food and shelter to a diversity of Marine Life.

Shark Watch

We also participate in Shark Watch to observe the number of sharks in the Maldives. This is a project from the Darwin Reef Fish Project, Marine Research Centre, Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture, Male’, Republic of Maldives.

Manta Trust and Maldives Manta Ray project

Manta rays are among the most charismatic creatures living in our oceans and now on the endangered list. With the largest brain of all fish, their intelligence and curiosity make encounters with these creatures a truly amazing experience.

The Manta Trust was founded to learn more about the life cycle, population dynamics and habitat usage of the Maldives manta population, while also working with the government, tourists, local communities and tour operators to create greater awareness and protection for these graceful rays and their habitat.

We collect data for the Manta Trust organisation by taking pictures of the distinctive spot patterns on manta rays’ bellies, which, like finger prints for humans, are unique to each animal. All pictures are uploaded to the Manta trust database enabling them to record manta sightings and count how many there are in the Maldives. Currently the population of manta rays in the Maldives is around 5,000.