Bridging Sustainability: Forming Partnerships through Biocultural Initiatives
Partner organization: Ko‘olau Mountains Watershed Partnership
Team members: Alex Mosley (Chemical Engineering ’24), Justine Moy (Data Science ’24), Drew Plunkett (Management Engineering ’24), Megan Tupaj (Mathematical Sciences ’24)
Download the team’s final presentation.
On the islands of Hawaiʻi, the phrase “mālama ʻāina” is a core pillar of Native Hawaiian culture. “Mālama ʻāina,” meaning to care for and nurture the land, encapsulates the symbiotic relationship between the people and the natural environment (Trask, 2001). The connected preservation of this symbiotic relationship between culture, society, and the environment is described by the concept of “biocultural sustainability” (Hanspach et al., 2020).
Since statehood, Hawaiʻi’s economy has become increasingly dependent on tourism, and traditional practices regarding sustainable use of the land and its resources have been disrupted. Hotels and resorts have implemented cost-saving practices that neglect their responsibility to the environment and society. The effects of these damaging efforts can be seen in the lack of authentic Hawaiian practices within the tourism industry (Trask, 2016) and the misuse of the islands’ natural resources (Osorio, 2010).
Despite this misuse, it is in the best long- term interest of businesses in the tourism industry to commit to sustainability. It is vital for Hawaiʻi’s economic survival that its environment and natural resources are protected, as nature- based tourism is the main reason people visit the islands (Arakaki, 2022). Additionally, several studies have shown that sustainability is important to tourists (Linnes et al., 2022) and that they are willing to support it through donations or volunteering (Han, 2013).
One method of achieving a commitment to sustainability is for tourism businesses to partner with local nonprofit organizations. Nonprofits can provide guidance and resources to assist businesses in enacting significant biocultural initiatives. This project aimed to provide local nonprofit organizations with approaches to initiate these meaningful collaborations with hotels and resorts. These approaches are meant to assist the Koʻolau Mountains Watershed Partnership (KMWP) and other nonprofit organizations to successfully establish effective, long-term partnerships.
To accomplish this goal, we first analyzed existing biocultural practices of domestic and international hotels and resorts that we identified as leaders in sustainable tourism. Through interviews, we gained insight into what motivated these world leaders to invest in sustainability as well as any obstacles that were overcome in the process. As a result of these interviews, we concluded that the notably sustainable hotels have individuals in leadership positions for whom investment in sustainability is personally important, either because of their ethical conviction, their long-term planning for the hotel, or both.
We then contacted Oahu-based hotels and resorts to assess the current state of biocultural sustainability on the island, as well as hotels’ willingness to enact further initiatives. With this series of interviews, we were able to determine that most hotels on Oahu currently have some degree of biocultural practices. These practices were typically basic initiatives and were less extensive than those of notably sustainable hotels. However, most hotel staff recognized the importance of sustainability and expressed interest in exploring options for increased involvement.
Lastly, we consulted the KMWP and other local nonprofits to evaluate the methods they use to form partnerships with hotels and resorts. Through these interviews, we determined that nonprofit organizations have seen a recent increase in hotels and resorts’ willingness to create a partnership. We also found that successful relationships have been built on open communication and mutual benefit.
Based on our findings, world leaders among sustainable hotels utilized the support or partnership of nonprofit organizations to achieve their success in meaningful biocultural initiatives. These leaders made it apparent that their relationships with nonprofits offered other benefits such as deep knowledge of the local environment or greater credibility of their hotel’s sustainability efforts. On the local level, we received information that all hotels were enacting some kind of biocultural initiatives, many of which stopped at the basic level. The nonprofits we spoke to expressed that they could assist hotels in preserving the surrounding land or revitalizing Hawaiian culture, as these efforts aligned with their own missions. The key to initiating this relationship is to identify a hotel with upper-level staff who are truly passionate about corporate responsibility and biocultural sustainability, and then establish an upfront, clear benefit of the partnership to the hotel.
The information that we compiled from the interviews informed the recommendations we provided for our project partners at the KMWP. These recommendations can be utilized by any nonprofit organization in Hawai‘i wishing to begin partnerships with hotels and resorts. In order to create meaningful partnerships with hotels and resorts, we recommend that nonprofit organizations: 1) focus on partnerships with luxury hotels that are not part of a larger corporate chain, 2) understand the implications of hotel size on the potential benefits of a partnership, 3) target hotels with individuals in decision-making positions who uphold the value of “mālama ʻāina,” 4) initiate and maintain partnerships by providing immediately beneficial initiatives and continued guidance, and 5) seek a mutually beneficial relationship through initiatives that support the missions of both parties. It is our hope that these recommendations develop pathways for more effective collaboration between local nonprofit organizations and the tourism private sector in Hawai‘i.