May 21, 2025 • 11 mins
Plastic pollution in the Maldives has become a serious environmental crisis, despite the nation’s image as a pristine paradise. In this episode of How to Protect the Ocean, host Andrew Lewin shares the inspiring story of Zazou Saeed—a young Maldivian surfer and ocean advocate—who rose to become a local conservation hero by campaigning against single-use plastics. From leading beach cleanups to working with NGOs like Save the Beach and Parley for the Oceans, Zazou sparked a grassroots movement that helped influence national policy.
Ocean conservation through local action is a powerful force. Zazou used art, storytelling, and education to mobilize Maldivian youth and drive home the consequences of plastic pollution on coral reefs, sea turtles, and marine life. Her efforts were instrumental in shifting public awareness and building momentum toward the Maldives’ plastic bans. This episode highlights how one passionate person can make a massive difference for their community—and the ocean.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
This is the second episode where I cover conservation hero stories.
Today we're going to be talking about Zazou Sayeed, who is a surfer and known for herprominence by stepping up and reducing single-use plastics in the Maldives.
We're going to talk about her story, what happened, just really quick summary.
I want to highlight these ocean heroes.
and we are just going to continue with these stories as I find them.
(00:23):
if you know of an ocean hero story, know, tell me about it.
I'd love to hear from you about it.
can hear how to get a hold of me in this episode.
Let's start the show.
Hey everybody, welcome back to another exciting episode of the How to Protect the Oceanpodcast.
I'm your host, Andrew Lewin, and this is the podcast where you find out what's happeningwith the ocean, how you can speak up for the ocean, and what you can do to live for a
(00:44):
better ocean by taking action.
And on today's episode, we're going to be talking about a conservation hero story.
We're going to be talking about local hero Asesu Zaid, who is a young Maldivian educatorand ocean advocate, surfer, athlete, and through her work with youth groups and schools
spreading awareness about ocean plastics.
So she became a vocal campaigner against single use plastics, particularly bottles, bags,and straws using art storytelling and education.
(01:13):
Zazou collaborated with NGOs like Zero Waste Maldives, Save the Beach, and Parlay for theOceans to build grassroots momentum for systematic change.
She helped mobilize youth for beach cleanups, school programs, and citizen scienceinitiatives.
So here's the thing.
The problem was that the Maldives faced an acute marine plastics
pollution crisis.
(01:34):
As a small island developing state, the Maldives relies heavily on imports, most of whichare wrapped or shipped in plastic, so including food and so forth.
And it can be quite a problem when you get rid of that.
You have to figure out what to do with that.
Despite its global image as a pristine island paradise, plastic waste rushes up daily onits shores and smothers nearby coral reefs.
(01:57):
In 2018, the Maldives was ranked the top per capita plastic polluters
globally.
So the impact was marine life such as sea turtles, manta rays, and reef fish regularlyingest or become entangled in these plastics.
Waste management in that area, in that country, is difficult due to limited area becausethey are small islands, a series of small islands.
(02:20):
So much of the plastic waste is burned or dumped.
So dumped where?
Dumped in the ocean.
tourism which is a major part of the economy was a risk due to increasing waste visible onbeaches and reefs i want you to picture the maldives when you picture the maldi's you
picture pristine blue waters you picture these white sand beaches you picture beautifulhotels and resorts and beautiful areas little towns and villages where people are just
(02:45):
enjoying life on the reef it's not an easy life for most people it's can be quitedifficult life because you have to import a lot of food a lot of stuff is imported just to
be able to survive in
live like a lot of the rest of the places but you have to be very careful how you live onthese small islands and a lot of them are very low on sea level rise so sea level rise can
impact them a lot of things can impact them now marine plastics a huge problem it's a hugeproblem everywhere not necessarily from the Maldives although like I said a lot of imports
(03:14):
wrapped in a lot of plastic that can make it even worse but you know that they get otherplastics that come in other debris that comes in from currents from other countries and so
forth
Terrible.
So you need somebody to step up and you need somebody to do conservation is that says whosaid did that and she stepped up and she did a lot of stuff.
So the conservation action that came from, you know, being vocal campaigners through artstorytelling and education and collaborating with NGOs like zero waste Maldives save the
(03:42):
beach and parlay for the oceans helped get more conservation action.
So some of the conservation action was the ban.
They needed to ban single use plastic.
So in 2020, the Maldivian president, Ibrahim
Mohammed Saleh announced a phase ban on 12 single-use plastic items including plasticstraws, cutlery, plates and cups, PET beverage bottles, so PET beverage bottles under
(04:06):
500ml and plastic bags and sachets that covered most of the plastics that were out thereyou know being a problem and nuisance for the Maldives.
So says rules role but not policymaker herself.
Zezu's advocacy helped share public sentiment and political will through a bunch of mediacampaigns featuring Maldivian youth calling for plastic bans, testifying to the value of
(04:29):
protecting island ecosystems, elevating the voices of school children and coastalcommunities directly affected by plastic pollution.
So just by highlighting people and having them tell their stories through media campaignsallowed people to really understand and connect with the people who were there.
Right?
It's not like major organizations that are talking about plastic bags and showing 4K videofootage of plastic pollution and making it really dim.
(04:56):
What they did is they got youth, they got people who want to use their voice to talk abouthow the plastic pollution affects them and their enjoyment of life in and around the
Maldives, which is...
you know, supposed to be a paradise.
And when it's not a paradise and people live there, you don't want to see that.
You want to make sure that that can get rid of.
So by elevating these voices of youth, of adults, of school children and coastalcommunities that are directly affected by plastic pollution, it allows people to really
(05:24):
connect.
It allows even policymakers and regulators to be like, this has got to stop.
I don't want to see these faces on, you know, posters, on video and on the internet.
I wanna be able to make sure that we see these school children, these youth, these adults,happy, enjoying their coastal community, enjoying things.
So the first thing, so the implementation timeline, so the ban went in, it was a phasedapproach.
(05:46):
So the first phase began June 1st, 2021, targeting imports of banned items.
So that's interesting.
And then they went, local businesses were given time to adapt and eco-friendlyalternatives were promoted.
So that's the first phase.
And so why it works, so local ownership,
played a role.
So advocacy was driven by the Maldivians, especially youth leaders like Sazu giving thecampaign legitimacy and cultural relevance and also the government receptiveness.
(06:14):
So the Maldivian government responded to the growing local and international pressure toprotect its natural resources and tourism industries.
They actually just bought into it.
They're like, okay, there's enough pressure here.
We have to listen to our people or I mean, one, we're not going to get reelected, but thisis what the people want.
This is something that we can do.
So we're going to do that.
Using education as a tool, Sazoo and partners focused on educating students andcommunities, fostering a generation wide cultural shift.
(06:39):
So going from wasteful behavior to non-wasteful behavior, having that generation come up.
It takes some time, it takes years to happen, but that's a long term solution and that'sthe best solution that will really pay it forward.
So strategic partnerships also helps with collaborations with NGOs, media and schools,scale the message and provide it alternatives.
You need to have partners, you need to have collaborators too often.
(07:01):
We have organizations and we have people who try and do it on their own.
You cannot do conservation on their own.
You can lead from one single person like says, Zousaid, but it's not always the case.
It's not always what you need to do and may not get you over the hump.
You need people.
You need to collaborate with people who have audiences.
Right.
And I think that's really important.
So let's just look at some of the impacts that we had so far.
(07:22):
So there's been increased public awareness of more schools have now waste sortingprograms, which is great.
And sustainable living has gained traction.
So more people are trying
to be sustainable, like the quote unquote cool thing to do.
There's a policy shift.
So the plastic ban set a precedent in the Indian Ocean region, inspiring other smallisland developing states and coastal nations.
Once people see that it can be done, it'll transform the policy around different areas andit'll travel.
(07:49):
and i think that's really important to see youth empowerment is really important as wellsays use of visibility helped inspire a wave of young ocean advocates across malice when
you have people who lead that look like you you will want to follow you will be inspiredto do what they are doing and i think that's an important point to ram home sometimes hard
(08:09):
to lead oftentimes hard to leave
sometimes you don't have the path ahead of you is not written for you and you have toafford your own path as ocean heroes they tend to do that on their own it's just a natural
thing that they tend to do sometimes not as natural you have to do it yourself you have toforce yourself to do there's always sticking points always challenges but you can do it if
(08:30):
you stand up and you become an inspiration
to the community around you.
And that's what's happening in the Maldives.
So some of the challenges, this goes without challenges, know, it never goes withoutchallenges.
Enforcement, so monitoring plastic imports across hundreds of islands is really difficult.
So that's one of the challenges.
Alternative access, so not all islands have easy access to sustainable products,particularly outer atolls.
(08:52):
So it's a geographic separation, geographic location can make a change.
And then of course, behavioral change always takes time.
So it's a long-term change.
requires continued education and incentives for both locals and tourists that takes timebehavioral change nobody likes to change behavioral change takes time if anybody's been on
a diet or wants to lose weight you know that it requires a behavioral change i'm goingthrough that right now and behavioral change is difficult but it can be done
(09:17):
So now looking at like the legacy and the future.
So Azouz Aeed is now part of an international youth conservation networks where she issharing her story at global climate and ocean forums.
So now she's inspiring not only people in the Maldives, but other places.
Her work is featured in the UNESCO reports and youth led conservation case studies.
The Maldives continues to build on the policy, now exploring circular economy approachesand marine litter tracking systems.
(09:43):
So this is great.
To have a story like this,
I feel like is inspiring.
It's a different area.
Either small island it's old.
There's a lot of challenges that face a small island, especially a small developing state.
have a lot of tourism where you have people come in and some, you know, let's be honest,some tourists don't care about the island that they're visiting after they finished
(10:03):
visiting.
It's just they've checked the item off their bucket list.
Maybe they polluted a little bit or they wrecked a reef by accident or something.
But really, they just go home and do their thing.
It's not always, you know, butterflies and puppies, right?
When you go to a place like that, when you leave, not everybody's going to be perfect.
So, you know, that happens sometimes.
So there's a lot of challenges in these small island states, especially when tourism is abig factor in their GDP.
(10:28):
And having people like Sazou, having people that she inspires, having governments that buyin because there's enough people that are talking and there's enough people that are
standing up and saying, hey, we don't want this plastic pollution.
You get results.
Plus you get a chance to inspire.
others.
have a lot of these types of stories from local heroes and we talked about the orcas andthe industry led orca whale watching fleet in the US last episode.
(10:54):
Now we're talking about an individual says who's Sayeed from a small and developedestates.
you know, just essentially hitting challenge after challenge after challenge andovercoming those challenges.
And so we're going to cover more in time, not going to say next episode, but we'll do morein time if you like these types of stories.
If you know someone or some organization or you know, some local association that has donesomething similar or have been a local hero in conserving these local communities about
(11:18):
their ocean.
Let me know, I'd love to hear from you.
Hit me up on Instagram at howtoprotecttheocean.
a comment down below if you're watching this on YouTube and don't forget to subscribe andhit that notification bell if you want to see more of this type of stuff.
We're just talking about conservation.
We're talking about how to protect the ocean.
I want to thank you so much for joining me on today's episode of the How to Protect theOcean podcast.
(11:38):
I'm your host, Andrew Lewin from the true north strong and free.
Have a great day.
We'll talk to you next time and happy conservation.
This is the second episode where I cover conservation hero stories.
Today we're going to be talking about Zazou Sayeed, who is a surfer and known for herprominence by stepping up and reducing single-use plastics in the Maldives.
We're going to talk about her story, what happened, just really quick summary.
I want to highlight these ocean heroes.
and we are just going to continue with these stories as I find them.
(00:23):
if you know of an ocean hero story, know, tell me about it.
I'd love to hear from you about it.
can hear how to get a hold of me in this episode.
Let's start the show.
Hey everybody, welcome back to another exciting episode of the How to Protect the Oceanpodcast.
I'm your host, Andrew Lewin, and this is the podcast where you find out what's happeningwith the ocean, how you can speak up for the ocean, and what you can do to live for a
(00:44):
better ocean by taking action.
And on today's episode, we're going to be talking about a conservation hero story.
We're going to be talking about local hero Asesu Zaid, who is a young Maldivian educatorand ocean advocate, surfer, athlete, and through her work with youth groups and schools
spreading awareness about ocean plastics.
So she became a vocal campaigner against single use plastics, particularly bottles, bags,and straws using art storytelling and education.
(01:13):
Zazou collaborated with NGOs like Zero Waste Maldives, Save the Beach, and Parlay for theOceans to build grassroots momentum for systematic change.
She helped mobilize youth for beach cleanups, school programs, and citizen scienceinitiatives.
So here's the thing.
The problem was that the Maldives faced an acute marine plastics
pollution crisis.
(01:34):
As a small island developing state, the Maldives relies heavily on imports, most of whichare wrapped or shipped in plastic, so including food and so forth.
And it can be quite a problem when you get rid of that.
You have to figure out what to do with that.
Despite its global image as a pristine island paradise, plastic waste rushes up daily onits shores and smothers nearby coral reefs.
(01:57):
In 2018, the Maldives was ranked the top per capita plastic polluters
globally.
So the impact was marine life such as sea turtles, manta rays, and reef fish regularlyingest or become entangled in these plastics.
Waste management in that area, in that country, is difficult due to limited area becausethey are small islands, a series of small islands.
(02:20):
So much of the plastic waste is burned or dumped.
So dumped where?
Dumped in the ocean.
tourism which is a major part of the economy was a risk due to increasing waste visible onbeaches and reefs i want you to picture the maldives when you picture the maldi's you
picture pristine blue waters you picture these white sand beaches you picture beautifulhotels and resorts and beautiful areas little towns and villages where people are just
(02:45):
enjoying life on the reef it's not an easy life for most people it's can be quitedifficult life because you have to import a lot of food a lot of stuff is imported just to
be able to survive in
live like a lot of the rest of the places but you have to be very careful how you live onthese small islands and a lot of them are very low on sea level rise so sea level rise can
impact them a lot of things can impact them now marine plastics a huge problem it's a hugeproblem everywhere not necessarily from the Maldives although like I said a lot of imports
(03:14):
wrapped in a lot of plastic that can make it even worse but you know that they get otherplastics that come in other debris that comes in from currents from other countries and so
forth
Terrible.
So you need somebody to step up and you need somebody to do conservation is that says whosaid did that and she stepped up and she did a lot of stuff.
So the conservation action that came from, you know, being vocal campaigners through artstorytelling and education and collaborating with NGOs like zero waste Maldives save the
(03:42):
beach and parlay for the oceans helped get more conservation action.
So some of the conservation action was the ban.
They needed to ban single use plastic.
So in 2020, the Maldivian president, Ibrahim
Mohammed Saleh announced a phase ban on 12 single-use plastic items including plasticstraws, cutlery, plates and cups, PET beverage bottles, so PET beverage bottles under
(04:06):
500ml and plastic bags and sachets that covered most of the plastics that were out thereyou know being a problem and nuisance for the Maldives.
So says rules role but not policymaker herself.
Zezu's advocacy helped share public sentiment and political will through a bunch of mediacampaigns featuring Maldivian youth calling for plastic bans, testifying to the value of
(04:29):
protecting island ecosystems, elevating the voices of school children and coastalcommunities directly affected by plastic pollution.
So just by highlighting people and having them tell their stories through media campaignsallowed people to really understand and connect with the people who were there.
Right?
It's not like major organizations that are talking about plastic bags and showing 4K videofootage of plastic pollution and making it really dim.
(04:56):
What they did is they got youth, they got people who want to use their voice to talk abouthow the plastic pollution affects them and their enjoyment of life in and around the
Maldives, which is...
you know, supposed to be a paradise.
And when it's not a paradise and people live there, you don't want to see that.
You want to make sure that that can get rid of.
So by elevating these voices of youth, of adults, of school children and coastalcommunities that are directly affected by plastic pollution, it allows people to really
(05:24):
connect.
It allows even policymakers and regulators to be like, this has got to stop.
I don't want to see these faces on, you know, posters, on video and on the internet.
I wanna be able to make sure that we see these school children, these youth, these adults,happy, enjoying their coastal community, enjoying things.
So the first thing, so the implementation timeline, so the ban went in, it was a phasedapproach.
(05:46):
So the first phase began June 1st, 2021, targeting imports of banned items.
So that's interesting.
And then they went, local businesses were given time to adapt and eco-friendlyalternatives were promoted.
So that's the first phase.
And so why it works, so local ownership,
played a role.
So advocacy was driven by the Maldivians, especially youth leaders like Sazu giving thecampaign legitimacy and cultural relevance and also the government receptiveness.
(06:14):
So the Maldivian government responded to the growing local and international pressure toprotect its natural resources and tourism industries.
They actually just bought into it.
They're like, okay, there's enough pressure here.
We have to listen to our people or I mean, one, we're not going to get reelected, but thisis what the people want.
This is something that we can do.
So we're going to do that.
Using education as a tool, Sazoo and partners focused on educating students andcommunities, fostering a generation wide cultural shift.
(06:39):
So going from wasteful behavior to non-wasteful behavior, having that generation come up.
It takes some time, it takes years to happen, but that's a long term solution and that'sthe best solution that will really pay it forward.
So strategic partnerships also helps with collaborations with NGOs, media and schools,scale the message and provide it alternatives.
You need to have partners, you need to have collaborators too often.
(07:01):
We have organizations and we have people who try and do it on their own.
You cannot do conservation on their own.
You can lead from one single person like says, Zousaid, but it's not always the case.
It's not always what you need to do and may not get you over the hump.
You need people.
You need to collaborate with people who have audiences.
Right.
And I think that's really important.
So let's just look at some of the impacts that we had so far.
(07:22):
So there's been increased public awareness of more schools have now waste sortingprograms, which is great.
And sustainable living has gained traction.
So more people are trying
to be sustainable, like the quote unquote cool thing to do.
There's a policy shift.
So the plastic ban set a precedent in the Indian Ocean region, inspiring other smallisland developing states and coastal nations.
Once people see that it can be done, it'll transform the policy around different areas andit'll travel.
(07:49):
and i think that's really important to see youth empowerment is really important as wellsays use of visibility helped inspire a wave of young ocean advocates across malice when
you have people who lead that look like you you will want to follow you will be inspiredto do what they are doing and i think that's an important point to ram home sometimes hard
(08:09):
to lead oftentimes hard to leave
sometimes you don't have the path ahead of you is not written for you and you have toafford your own path as ocean heroes they tend to do that on their own it's just a natural
thing that they tend to do sometimes not as natural you have to do it yourself you have toforce yourself to do there's always sticking points always challenges but you can do it if
(08:30):
you stand up and you become an inspiration
to the community around you.
And that's what's happening in the Maldives.
So some of the challenges, this goes without challenges, know, it never goes withoutchallenges.
Enforcement, so monitoring plastic imports across hundreds of islands is really difficult.
So that's one of the challenges.
Alternative access, so not all islands have easy access to sustainable products,particularly outer atolls.
(08:52):
So it's a geographic separation, geographic location can make a change.
And then of course, behavioral change always takes time.
So it's a long-term change.
requires continued education and incentives for both locals and tourists that takes timebehavioral change nobody likes to change behavioral change takes time if anybody's been on
a diet or wants to lose weight you know that it requires a behavioral change i'm goingthrough that right now and behavioral change is difficult but it can be done
(09:17):
So now looking at like the legacy and the future.
So Azouz Aeed is now part of an international youth conservation networks where she issharing her story at global climate and ocean forums.
So now she's inspiring not only people in the Maldives, but other places.
Her work is featured in the UNESCO reports and youth led conservation case studies.
The Maldives continues to build on the policy, now exploring circular economy approachesand marine litter tracking systems.
(09:43):
So this is great.
To have a story like this,
I feel like is inspiring.
It's a different area.
Either small island it's old.
There's a lot of challenges that face a small island, especially a small developing state.
have a lot of tourism where you have people come in and some, you know, let's be honest,some tourists don't care about the island that they're visiting after they finished
(10:03):
visiting.
It's just they've checked the item off their bucket list.
Maybe they polluted a little bit or they wrecked a reef by accident or something.
But really, they just go home and do their thing.
It's not always, you know, butterflies and puppies, right?
When you go to a place like that, when you leave, not everybody's going to be perfect.
So, you know, that happens sometimes.
So there's a lot of challenges in these small island states, especially when tourism is abig factor in their GDP.
(10:28):
And having people like Sazou, having people that she inspires, having governments that buyin because there's enough people that are talking and there's enough people that are
standing up and saying, hey, we don't want this plastic pollution.
You get results.
Plus you get a chance to inspire.
others.
have a lot of these types of stories from local heroes and we talked about the orcas andthe industry led orca whale watching fleet in the US last episode.
(10:54):
Now we're talking about an individual says who's Sayeed from a small and developedestates.
you know, just essentially hitting challenge after challenge after challenge andovercoming those challenges.
And so we're going to cover more in time, not going to say next episode, but we'll do morein time if you like these types of stories.
If you know someone or some organization or you know, some local association that has donesomething similar or have been a local hero in conserving these local communities about
(11:18):
their ocean.
Let me know, I'd love to hear from you.
Hit me up on Instagram at howtoprotecttheocean.
a comment down below if you're watching this on YouTube and don't forget to subscribe andhit that notification bell if you want to see more of this type of stuff.
We're just talking about conservation.
We're talking about how to protect the ocean.
I want to thank you so much for joining me on today's episode of the How to Protect theOcean podcast.
(11:38):
I'm your host, Andrew Lewin from the true north strong and free.
Have a great day.
We'll talk to you next time and happy conservation.
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