Our Partnerships and Affiliations
Our Pillar Partners, Community Voices, other Partners, as well as our Sustainability Affiliations, without all of whom we would not be able to implement The Datai Pledge programmes and initiatives.
Pillar Partners
Skaii de Vega
Founder, The Kanshalife Project, Langkawi | Pillar partner of Pure For The Future
"Together with The Datai Pledge, we have amplified our efforts in environmental stewardship and community empowerment, intertwining innovation with compassion. We not only uplift local artisans and implement sustainable practices, but our work creates a harmonious ecosystem where the well-being of society and the splendour of nature thrive hand in hand, leaving an indelible mark of sustainability for generations to come.“
Dr Louisa Ponnampalam
Executive Director and Co-founder, MareCet | Pillar partner of Fish For The Future
"Cetaceans are some of Langkawi’s lesser known wildlife gems, yet play such an important role in keeping the health balance of the marine environment; serving as sentinels of the sea’s health. Partnering with The Datai Pledge will help us keep our conservation projects going during these tough times. The funds will enable us to keep researching the cetaceans and conduct outreach activities with schools and the local communities for our flagship research project in Langkawi. Additionally, the research trips with guests will help us monitor the dolphins, especially when we are unable to be in the field for a full survey. The Datai Pledge partnership is a wonderful opportunity for MareCet to share its knowledge and conservation passion about marine mammals with guests, and to be able to inspire children to be ocean stewards."
Dr Ravinder Kaur
Co-founder, Gaia | Pillar partner of Wildlife For The Future
"As a conservation organisation, it has always been our hope that we receive continued funding and an opportunity to engage a wider audience. Through The Datai Pledge, we not only we receive funding yearly for our conservation efforts, we have been given the amazing opportunity to reach a wider audience, to motivate more people to join our fight to help conserve our endangered species."
Sri Themudu
Programme Director, Green Growth Asia Foundation (GGAF) | Pillar partner of Youth For The Future
"Our Eco-Schools Programme does not ask teenagers to save the earth. It invites them to participate in a captivating and rewarding learning process in which the activities contribute to their personality development and are also beneficial for the planet and humankind. Rather than teaching about sustainability issues in an abstract way in the classroom, the GGAF - The Datai Pledge collaboration creates a framework for schools and pupils to do concrete work for sustainable development in a real-life context."
Community Voices
Sabri Bin Musa
Ambassador, Geopark Langkawi | Secretary, Sungai Kubang Badak Fishermen Corporation
"The Datai Pledge has raised the importance of protecting marine biodiversity amongst the local community. The Artificial Reefs provide a rich habitat to a wealth of marine life and are also a source for sustainable fishing. We hope our combined efforts will continue to benefit the coastal fishermen and create a sustainable ecosystem."
Shaaban Arshad
Community member, Kampung Teluk Ewa
"Working to care for the environment benefits everyone. This is our heritage. If we do not take care of it, there will be nothing to leave for the future. So it’s important to do all we can while there is still a chance to make a difference."
‘Mak Tok’ Ummi Khaltum
Single-mother, Kampung Lincai, Kedawang, Langkawi
"I tried working at many other things like being a masseuse, rubber tapper and farmer, but there were always problems, like when I couldn’t afford a fence and the cows would eat and ruin the crops. I also started my paddy field, but the machinery was expensive, so everything had to be done by hand, and it was long and hard work. In the end,I couldn’t keep it up. There were many things I couldn’t afford, including a good meal for my children. But now, with a regular stable income, working in the comfort of my own home by sewing and cleaning candles and knowing that another payment is coming again next month - this has changed my life for the better. From my long experience, these comforts are quite rare, especially as I am already 66 years old this year. “
Md Nayan Jiwa
Fisherman, Kubang Badak, Langkawi
“We should look after our mangrove and sea by not littering everywhere. We used to harvest mangroves for charcoal and now it is being cleared in large quantities for development. This has a huge effect on the environment and us fishermen because the mangrove and all that live in it is the source of our livelihood. We need to replant and not remove it.”
‘Kak Zu’ Zuraidah Zainal Abidin
Founder of Geng Bersih Kampung
Geng Bersih Kampung (GBK) tells the story of a lively community space which has provided local youth with an array of life skills. Told from the perspective of its indomitable founder, Zuraidah Zainal Abidin (aka ‘Kak Zu’) and featuring Dr Louisa Ponnampalam, co-founder of NGO MareCet, which is dedicated to marine mammal conservation and research, and also the official partner of the Fish For The Future pillar under The Datai Pledge, the film demonstrates how extra-curricular education can make a difference to self-esteem and life outlook in young people. GBK’s programme includes practicing heritage activities like silat (a traditional martial art), understanding local plants and animals, and improving language skills. Existing purely on private donations and support from The Datai Pledge, GBK’s community space also provides a vital social space for children, many of whom are living below the poverty line (a demographic segment called the ‘B40’ in Malaysia).
Partners
Roots & Shoots Malaysia
Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots is a youth-led action programme aimed at young people and the young at heart of all ages.
The programme was founded in 1991 by renowned primatologist and environmental hero Dr Jane Goodall to promote the values of compassion and respect for all living things, as well as intercultural understanding and solidarity amongst all people. Roots & Shoots empowers young people to create positive change for people, animals and the environment, by providing them with the tools needed to initiate and lead projects that make a difference, with over 150,000 active groups in over 130 countries.
Roots & Shoots Malaysia was established in January 2015 to mark Dr Jane Goodall’s first visit to Malaysia. Since then, the programme has grown from strength to strength. In 2020, one of their flagship projects, the Roots & Shoots Malaysia Award, which has been continuously supported by Yayasan Hasanah (local foundation focused on creating long-term positive social and environmental change in Malaysia), enabled 53 youths from all over Malaysia to volunteer with 18 Malaysian NGOs and social enterprises, with more than 5,000 hours of volunteering work clocked in. Roots & Shoots Malaysia is proud to collaborate with The Datai Pledge to promote a greater awareness of our amazing biodiversity and the need to conserve it, as well as to initiate projects to make a positive impact on Malaysia’s wildlife, environment and human societies.
S.C. Shekar
S.C. Shekar began his career as a photojournalist in the late 1970s, then moved on to specialise in editorial and architectural photography.
Although trained as a lawyer, this self-taught photographer has concentrated on socio-documentary photography projects around the world over the past three decades. He has focused on communities (orang asli in Malay), creating an unparalleled portfolio of pictures of their life as well as their struggles.
Shekar’s work has appeared in many solo exhibitions, notably at Malaysia’s National Art Gallery. He has published more than two dozen books of photography, covering themes as diverse as architecture, food culture, portraiture and indigenous people’s lives and crafts. His most recent major project is ‘Grit & Grace: The Grandeur of Monochrome Malaysia’, a stunning collection of photos of Malaysia’s topography and communities. Shekar is currently working on a project documenting Southeast Asia from the air in collaboration with Bellflight USA and Sigma Japan.
The award-winning Shekar is the official photographer of The Datai Pledge, contributing pro bono, with many of his images used on this website. In addition, he will be collaborating with The Datai Pledge to highlight the plight of Malaysia’s orang asli.
Bouteco
Navigating discerning travellers to the world’s most aesthetically pleasing eco-friendly hotels is Bouteco’s mission. So that travellers have rewarding escapes and so that luxury travel supports communities and conservation.
A purpose-led non-profit, Bouteco works as a consultancy to help hotels stand for something and stand out for it while helping amplify messages that matter. Brands representing themselves as responsible businesses need to walk their talk and talk their walk well – but without a glimmer of greenwashing. As trustworthy arbiters of truly sustainable luxury travel experiences, Bouteco shines a light on the people, processes and philosophies effecting change. A great believer that honest, emotive stories are one of the most powerful ways to prompt change – especially when it comes to the causes of the climate emergency – Bouteco made an award- winning documentary in 2019 about the importance of educating women in remote rural areas.
Bouteco Loves is Juliet Kinsman’s independent list of the most special sustainable luxury hotels in the world, which showcases The Datai Langkawi as an exemplar in this niche. A new, independent, ‘little green book’ for discerning travellers, travel agents, journalists and editors, the Bouteco Loves list exists to signpost all to the world’s finest positive-impact hotels with style and soul.
Peter Ong
Peter Ong obtained a Master’s Degree in International Law in London. After meeting the renowned conservationist Dr Jane Goodall, however, he decided to direct his passion for wildlife and the environment into a career in wildlife photography and conservation advocacy.
His most recent endeavour included documenting and publishing a book as well as a short documentary, both titled ‘Wang Kelian, Perlis - The Forgotten Valley’, on the biodiversity and cultural heritage of Malaysia’s smallest and often overlooked state of Perlis.
Peter also published another book ‘Primus - The Primates of Peninsular Malaysia’, with 100 limited edition hardback copies sold exclusively at The Datai Langkawi in support of the conservation work of The Datai Pledge. This publication features, for the first time, all 12 species of non-human primates in Peninsular Malaysia, as well as the journey to discover them, showcasing the variety of stunning landscapes across the country. It also contains a foreword by Dr Jane Goodall as well as reproductions of the first visual records of Peninsular Malaysia’s primates, watercolour paintings originally commissioned by William Farquhar in 1803 and now housed in the National Museum of Singapore.
Sustainability Affiliations
Regenerative Travel
Founded in 2019, Regenerative Travel is a benefit corporation providing support services to a network of independently owned eco-luxury boutique hotels that are dedicated to the highest levels of social and environmental impact.
Through sharing individual best practices and through collaboration, Regenerative Travel enables the Regenerative Resorts hotel collection to work together to achieve significant economies of scale and to make a deeper impact. Each Regenerative Resort is selected to join the collection based on their dedication to the highest levels of environmental and social impact. The hotels embody these standards: honours their locale, provides real hospitality that is authentic and respectful, is inclusive and egalitarian, operates responsibly and ethically, respects local and global ecosystems, communicates regenerative values and practices. Regeneration is about ‘co-evolving’ with the local ecosystem to create economic benefit and abundance for a larger set of stakeholders around the properties. Fulfilling this criterion, including the creation of The Datai Pledge programme, led to The Datai Langkawi being accepted as a Founder Member of Regenerative Travel in 2020.
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The Conscious Travel Foundation
The Conscious Travel Foundation was established during the global pandemic in 2020 to champion the positive impact of the travel industry on global communities, cultures, wildlife and habitats – raising much-needed funds for grassroots charities and high-impact projects around the world.
The Datai Langkawi was accepted as a member of The Conscious Travel Foundation which will be immediately contributing to and benefiting The Datai Pledge. Their members-only community is a space to share ideas, foster new relationships with other like-minded industry professionals and gain access to some of the most inspiring, forward-thinking minds in travel. Together with The Datai Pledge, the aim is to promote and encourage the positive impact of the travel industry on the environment, protecting and conserving the planet for generations to come.
theconscioustravelfoundation.com
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LHW Sustainability Leader
The Datai Langkawi has been recognized as a Sustainability Leader by The Leading Hotels of the World. This designation helps signify members from Leading Hotels who have been certified according to standards aligned with the Global Sustainable Tourism Council Criteria. It serves as a testament to our commitment to excellence in hospitality, specifically in the areas of community, culture, and environmental responsibility.
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