That reality is driving a new generation of young activists to take action in their communities, from organising clean-ups and protecting wetlands to using social media to push for greater environmental awareness and accountability.
Their work also challenges the idea that youth climate action belongs in the future. In the Maldives, young people are already responding to the environmental and climate pressures shaping their communities.
From student leaders to environmental activists
In Addu City in southern Maldives, a group of young people has been documenting the impact of development on wetlands and reefs through Project ThimaaVeshi.
The group began with young people involved in student leadership and community activities. It later developed into a registered nonprofit focused on environmental protection, culture, heritage and civic participation.
In one campaign, members travelled by kayak to protest land reclamation affecting protected mangrove wetlands in a UNESCO biosphere reserve. The group has also used formal complaints, information requests and public advocacy to raise concerns about environmental damage.
For these young activists, protecting the environment is closely connected to protecting their communities and their future.
Turning a clean-up into a movement
In the capital Malé and nearby Hulhumalé, another youth-led group called Ripple has taken a different approach.
Ripple started when a group of friends noticed the amount of plastic waste accumulating around places where they spent time. What began as an idea to make TikTok videos and organise clean-ups gradually developed into a youth-led environmental movement.
The group now organises regular clean-ups, campaigns against plastic pollution and works with others to recycle the waste it collects.
Climate and environmental action does not always begin with a large organisation, a major campaign or a policy proposal. Sometimes it starts with a group of friends looking at a problem around them and deciding to do something about it.
Making action feel possible
Another youth group, Barnacles, focuses on climate education and youth leadership.
Its co-founder, Yania Hussain Ishan, became interested in environmental issues while preparing a school presentation about protecting nature. That interest developed into an effort to help other young people understand environmental challenges and find ways to participate.
This matters because climate anxiety can easily become climate helplessness.
When young people constantly hear about the scale of the climate crisis, it can be difficult to see where individual action fits into such a huge problem. Youth groups such as these can create a sense that action is possible, and that it can begin locally.
Their work also connects with wider efforts to involve young people in environmental action. UNICEF Maldives' Climate Guardians platform supports young people in developing community climate initiatives, participating in policy discussions, restoring coral reefs and promoting environmental awareness. The programme brings together young people aged 15–24 from across the country.
Young people are not waiting for someone else to act.
The activists have also faced criticism because of their age. Some officials have questioned whether young activists have enough experience to understand complex environmental issues.
The young activists do not suggest that a clean-up or local campaign can solve the larger challenges facing the Maldives.
But that is precisely the point.
A beach clean-up will not solve climate change. A social media campaign will not stop sea-level rise. Protecting one wetland will not resolve the pressures created by development.
But these actions can build awareness, bring people together and create space for young people to participate in decisions about their environment and future.
For the young activists in the Maldives, waiting for the biggest problems to be solved before taking action is not an option. Their work is about responding to environmental challenges today while building a generation that feels capable of shaping what happens next.
Climate action is also about having a say.
The story is also about agency.
Young people who will live with the consequences of decisions made today are asking to have a meaningful role in shaping those decisions.
That means creating spaces where young people can organise, participate in policymaking, challenge decisions, learn from one another and develop solutions within their own communities.
The Maldives is particularly vulnerable to climate impacts, and young people there have been calling for stronger action and greater participation in climate decision-making. At the 2024 Youth Track to COP29, young Maldivians called on leaders to protect children and young people from climate impacts and involve them in national climate policies and actions.
Their message is relevant far beyond the Maldives.
Youth participation in climate and environmental action does not always start with a seat at an international conference. It can start with a local campaign, a community clean-up, a threatened wetland or a group of young people deciding that a problem around them deserves their attention.
The challenge for governments, businesses and civil society is to create more pathways for that local action to influence the bigger decisions shaping young people's futures.
For young people, the lesson is equally clear: you do not have to wait for permission to start making a difference where you are.
Sources
• Associated Press, Young activists in the Maldives confront climate threats to their island nation, August 2026.
• UNICEF Maldives, Climate Guardians.
• UNICEF, Young Maldivians urge governments to protect children from devastating impacts of climate change.
• SunOnline International, reporting on Ripple's youth-led environmental activities.
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