Just like life on earth, we too, evolved from the ocean. Our company “Dive Downbelow” began life underwater as a PADI Dive Centre in the UK in the year 2000.

Everything underwater is magnified, this is due to refraction. But it’s not refraction that is magnifying human impact below the surface. Underwater is where we see the most startling effects of our changing planet due to global warming and the plastic tides. Destruction and depletion of life can be seen with our own eyes and the changes occur within months, not years or 10’s of years but just mere months. Witnessing this is utterly heartbreaking and terrifying.

This was just one reason we felt the need to make some serious changes within our company and personal lives, in terms of the environmental impact we make on planet earth. Our responsible tourism policy was implemented in 2008. At the time we were leading in this field, many people thought we were extreme activists. Today, we feel somewhat hopeful for the future as more and more companies give serious attention & resources to their own environmental policy. The UNWTO 2030 Sustainable Development Goals are thought to stimulate action in supporting change in policies, pushing business practices and consumer behaviour towards a more sustainable tourism sector and the ways in which we humans treat our planet and the life upon it.

Local Development

Where ever possible we employ local people, only in situations where the required expertise is not available locally do we employ foreigners. We have a staff team of 42 people, 38 of which are local Sabahans.

In 2008 we developed our “Work For A Career” program where we encourage local people to embark on a 3 year training program to become a PADI Instructor. Fully funded by Downbelow to date 92 candidates have successfully achieved PADI Instructor level qualifications which are NVQ Level 3.

Single Use Plastic

We have a total ban on the use of single-use plastics in our company. You will not see a plastic bottle, straw, bag, take-away box at any of our premises . Any “slip-up” by our team will incur a MYR 5.00 per item cash fine which is then put into our SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) donation box.

Animal Welfare

We do not take our clients to Zoo’s. We have a strict “no contact” policy for all animals (land & ocean). All animal interaction is clearly defined during our pre-activity briefings. We play an active role in many animal welfare projects including marine life, orang-utans, sun bears, street cats & dogs. More details can be found in our animal welfare section.

Our PADI 5 Star IDC Career Development Centre serves only vegetarian food, replacing meat with Tempeh, which is an amazing fermented soya bean  and a great substitute for meat. Made by a local family here in Sabah, the environmental footprint to produce it is minimal and our purchases fund the local economy, its also un-processed and very healthy for the gut. We also serve healthy local vegetables.

Carbon Footprint

All our premises save energy where ever possible. “Everything Off” is very well known within our company. We also follow other policies to reduce our carbon footprint which include.

• We encourage road transportation over air transportation whenever possible.
• We use local produce of fruit & vegetables from the market.
• We recycle everything possible, making our own bags from recycled materials.
• We are paperless wherever possible. Minimising the use of printed items including business cards in this digital age. Using cloud & web based technology for the majority of our processes.
• We are the first company in Malaysia to earn the Green Star award for our efforts in reducing our carbon footprint and saving energy.

Community Impact

We are very proud of our Company’s contribution made to the community through a variety of projects & initiatives.

Beach Clean Ups
Beach clean ups are a routine job for our island teams. Sadly, ocean trash is an increasing problem worldwide and if, like us, you are blessed to be based on a beach, you will see the plastic tide daily. More than 8 million tonnes of plastic is thrown away each year and washed out to sea.

It takes centuries to break down. It’s eaten by marine creatures and it’s already in our food chain. Scientists can’t say how dangerous plastic is to human health, but it’s clear the effect on wildlife is devastating. Fish, whales, dolphins, seals… hundreds of species have eaten plastic and suffered an excruciatingly painful and slow death. Some seabirds and turtles have been found to have so much plastic in their stomachs that they were no longer able to eat the food they need to survive. This affects their ability to migrate, mate and raise their young. Inevitably, they eventually die.

Conservation projects, such as our beach and underwater clean-up events, aid to raise awareness in Kota Kinabalu about the health of the natural environment in our local area. We show people the effects of excess rubbish in our oceans and explain how everyone can make a difference.

Underwater Net Removals
Illegal fishing nets, colloquially termed ‘ghost nets’ because it continually fishes even after being discarded, are a threat faced in the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park where we are based.

As soon as one is reported within the marine park, a team of our PADI professionals is assembled to remove it from the reef to stop further damage to the delicate coral reef and marine life. Our team work together with Sabah Parks – the local government authority, whose role is to protect and manage the marine park, has been mutually satisfying as we are able to continue conservation efforts seamlessly for many years.  To date we have conducted more that 150 net removal dives. Net removals require specialised training. A net can be 100m long and 30m wide thus we must ensure that our team remain safe at all times and avoid getting tangled themselves. Our Managing Director & Platinum PADI Course Director Richard Swann has trained many divers to safely remove nets and save any marine life that is entangled and still alive. All net removals are fully sponsored (skilled manpower and logistics) by our Company and we are very proud of the work we have done to help the environment in the region.

Build Projects
Our building expertise is gained from our Managing Director Richard Swann who owned a construction business in the UK and as a qualified tradesmen, it is a valuable asset for organisers who wish to incorporate build projects into their program. We have located, organised and managed the building of a pre-school, washroom facilities, housing and an animal shelter.  Some of the build projects are wholly funded by our company profits, others formed part of an international charity expedition. Our local connections enable us to seek genuine causes and permissions for projects to facilitate clients that wish to make a big difference to local communities here in Borneo.

Tree Planting & Re-Forestation

Sadly, rainforests of the Lower Kinabatangan in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo have undergone mass destruction from the expansion of agriculture, namely oil palm production. In more recent years, thanks to a moratorium on logging, increased revenue from tourism, private & NGO purchasing of land, vital areas of forest are now under protection. This is to create wildlife corridors and to connect fragmented patches of land, ensuring that a continuous, protected habitat exists for wildlife and local communities.

Here is where our Company steps in to help. These areas are in dire need of more trees. So we have teamed up with our partner lodge in the local village of Bilit along the Kinabatangan River to work with their village school to create a nursery for tree planting.

Planting trees is a win-win-win. They produce fresh air, clean the air, reduce wastewater run-off, provide shade, beautify environments and provide habitats for wild animals. Our tree planting project also educates local communities and provides them with a small income.

Our school, university and gap year volunteers work with the community to fund, build and care for the nursery. By planting fruiting trees that are endemic to the region, we teach the local school children involved in our environmental education programs the importance of protecting and living harmoniously with nature.

The local school then sells the seedlings cultivated from the nursery to local tourist lodges, providing a small but steady stream of income to be re-invested into the community & school projects. The lodges uses the seedlings for their own tree planting activities which hastens the reforestation efforts as tourists are given the opportunity to help plant various local trees and receive updates on their young plant!

Borneo Sun Bear Rehabilitation & Release

Teaming up with the Borneo Sun Bear Conservation Centre here in Sabah, Borneo, we offer our groups the opportunity to learn more about what happens behind the scenes at the rehabilitation centre.

They will  assist in some daily routine work, which could be preparing the animal’s food, painting fences, landscaping and making enrichment toys for the bears to play with to keep them stimulated. We are currently fund raising to contribute to the MYR 80,000.00 needed to release four  Sun Bears at the end of 2019.

One of the most interesting and costly portion of the release is the tracking device that will be safely attached to bear so that the rangers can track the bears whereabouts for two years before the tracking collar automatically releases. This helps the centre set up anti-poaching networks in the territory.