Luxury with a conscience isn’t new, but as International Day for Biological Diversity nears, Six Senses is proving just how far a resort brand can go to protect the planet it calls home.
Six Senses Ninh Van Bay in Vietnam has just received the Climate & Biodiversity Action Award at the 2024 HICAP Sustainable Hotel Awards, a recognition of its work protecting local biodiversity.
Nestled along a secluded stretch of Vietnam’s coast, the resort has quietly become a biodiversity stronghold. Earlier this year, staff and conservation partners installed 70 camera traps across the surrounding forest.
Over the course of just three months, those traps captured images of the Critically Endangered Sunda Pangolin, the Endangered Pygmy Slow Loris, and the Silver-backed Chevrotain – a species once thought to be extinct.
In parallel, the resort has worked closely with local NGO GreenViet to monitor the Black-shanked Douc Langur, one of the world’s most endangered primates. Since 2019, the local population has increased from 109 to 194 individuals, a rare conservation success story in a region often under pressure from development and poaching.
And that pressure is very real. So far in 2024, Six Senses Ninh Van Bay’s dedicated anti-poaching patrols have removed 20 metres of illegal net traps and 72 wire snares from the forest.
Remote luxury resorts can no longer only offer infinity pools and silent spas, they must defend the environments their guests come to see.
Just as important is getting the local community involved and Six Senses Ninh Van Bay runs guided hikes and biodiversity sessions for both guests and locals, helping everyone connect with the endangered wildlife that calls this place home.
Six Senses Krabey Island
Over in Cambodia, Six Senses Krabey Island is making its own contributions to conservation.
Tucked away on a tiny private island fringed by rainforest and coral reefs, the resort is surrounded by wildlife, some of it surprisingly rare.
A staff member recently spotted a Sunda Pangolin ambling along the dock at night, a rare glimpse of one of the world’s most endangered animals.
A recent biodiversity survey also recorded Indochinese Silvered Langurs and more than 40 bird species, from hornbills to kingfishers showing that nature isn’t just surviving, but thriving.
Hidden in a jungle canopy, its 40 pool villas are built with sustainable materials and designed to blend into the landscape. The resort sources fresh produce from its own organic farm on the mainland, bottles its own water, and composts food waste, all part of its commitment to treading lightly.
Like most Six Senses, guests will find an Earth Lab, where they can get hands-on with eco-activities like soap making and glass crushing and learn how the resort eliminates single-use plastics and supports local farming.
To celebrate International Day for Biological Diversity, Six Senses is rolling out a group-wide BioBlitz, a fun, hands-on initiative that invites team members at every resort to head outside and document the plants and animals around them using a simple mobile app.
It’s part citizen science, part team-building, and another reminder that conservation doesn’t have to happen in a lab or lecture, it can start right in your own backyard, even if that backyard happens to be a tropical island.
