Environment collapse could visit the Aldabra Atoll, part of the Seychelles if action isn’t taken
Friends of Aldabra sent a new report to Green Prophet and is calling on UNESCO to end its silence on the threat posed by a Qatari-funded luxury hotel development on Assomption Island, just 27km from Aldabra Atoll, one of the world’s most ecologically significant UNESCO World Heritage Sites — and to place the issue on the agenda of the 48th World Heritage Committee session in Busan, Korea, opening July 19, 2026.
A Qatari real estate developer has started construction on an ecologically sensitive island in the Seychelles called Assomption Island. An important turtle breeding site, the island is a short boat ride to the immensely important Aldabra Atoll, one of the last pristine ecosystems on earth. Representatives of the development have been asked multiple times for comment but have not responded to Green Prophet’s requests regarding environmental oversight of the project.
The Seychelles Commission of Inquiry into the sublease and development of Assomption Island handed its final report to President Herminie, supporting the concerns of environmental risk and institutional failure that Friends of Aldabra has been raising since 2024.
In her remarks at the handover ceremony, Commissioner Judge Mathilda Twomey described the environmental chapter of the report — almost 100 pages long — as “very concerning,” pointing to instances of executive interference and forwarding recommendations to the Attorney General, the Anti-Corruption Commission, and the Financial Intelligence Unit for further investigation.
Her remarks give weight to what Friends of Aldabra has been arguing for nearly two years: that the development on Assomption Island moved forward without due process, was riddled with environmental breaches, lacked proper oversight, and poses serious, insufficiently studied environmental risks to the atoll and its surrounding ecosystem. Friends of Aldabra was named and thanked by the Commission for its contribution to proceedings.
UNESCO: A Pattern of Selective Silence
Is UNESCO being paid off by Qatar? Since November 2024, Friends of Aldabra says it has led an international campaign raising evidence-based concerns about the threat posed to Aldabra Atoll by the Assomption hotel development. The campaign has mobilised scientists, conservation organisations, and the general public across Seychelles and internationally.
The most recent IUCN World Heritage Outlook (2025) rates the invasive species risk associated with the Assomption development as a Very High Threat. It remains unclear whether these findings have been formally communicated to or acted upon by UNESCO HQ. Reports and observed activities suggest that construction is ongoing.
On May 15, 2026, Friends of Aldabra says it wrote to UNESCO raising urgent concerns about the governance and scientific independence of the Seychelles Islands Foundation (SIF) — UNESCO’s partner institution mandated to protect Aldabra Atoll.
SIF has since been given a second mandate by the Seychelles Government to lead biosecurity and environmental oversight for the very hotel development on Assomption Island that threatens Aldabra. In response, Friends of Aldabra received what appears to have been a message sent in error by SIF’s CEO, Dr. Frauke Fleischer-Dogley.
According to Friends of Aldabra, it read: “Thank you I am copied in, UNESCO will not entertain them.”
This silence stands in stark contrast to UNESCO’s own stated commitments to youth. UNESCO has declared that engaging young people “is not just a matter of right, it is a matter of principle.”
Yet Friends of Aldabra — a youth-led organisation that has mobilised young people from across the globe — has received no direct response from UNESCO HQ in nearly two years.
Meanwhile, UNESCO has been an active partner in publicity about Aldabra, including a collaboration with Plastic Odyssey and a partnership with photographer Alexis Rosenfeld. This raises an uncomfortable question: is UNESCO selectively engaging with Aldabra? Celebrating its beauty and burnishing its reputation with selectively positive partnerships on the international stage while turning away from the locals and global youth raising the alarm about its survival?
The 48th session of UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee in Busan, Korea, opening on July 19, 2026, is an opportunity for accountability. The situation warrants formal attention given the pace of developments on the ground, the fact that so many processes have not been respected, and that environmental commitments have been sidelined. Aldabra needs attention — and Busan is the moment to provide it.
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- Seychelles’ Assomption Island Sold to Qatar: An Alleged $50 Million Scandal
- Q&A: Dr. Nirmal Jivan Shah on Assomption Island, Qatar, and the State of Conservation in the Seychelles
- “They Knew They Shouldn’t Be There”: Journalist Kevin Gepford on Aldabra and Assomption
- Yaniv Levy’s Lifelong Quest to Protect Sea Turtles in a Time of War and Greed
- They Call Her Madam Torti. She Might Be the Only One Who Can Save Seychelles Turtles
- Seychelles Activists Sue Government for Qatari Mansions on Turtle Nesting Sites
- Images of Assomption Island Development Show Extensive Beach Development
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