With partner the Asian Surfing Cooperative and sponsored by the U.S Embassy, Jakarta, we are excited to have underway Our Future Waves Surf Resource Project.

The purpose of the program is to align the development of surfing and surf tourism across surf clubs in Indonesia with the values of sustainability, marine protection, gender equity, socio-economic benefit for local communities. Through partnering with the Asian Surfing Cooperative under the directorship of influential Indonesian Tipi Jabrik and partner Tim Hain (American) and its newly formed Indonesian Surf League (LSI), we aim to to help address , at scale, the issue of ineffective MPAs and protect Indonesia’s seas for generations to come. 

The program is expected to work to solve the problem by harnessing the passion of surfers to protect their local waves, using the socio-economic benefits local communities and government ministries associate with surf tourism, using a relatable syllabus based on previously proven ALF syllabi and having influential Indonesian figures spearheading it.  Passion and the prospect of a better economic future bring long-term buy-in and commitment.  With this as a starting point, establishing effective MPAs while simultaneously improving socio-economic realities are not only possible but may surpass expectations.  The framework provided by the ASC’s LSI will enable easy implementation and scalability of this project.  Surf clubs sign up with the ASC to be a member of the LSI.  Partaking in the workshops is included as part of the membership requirement. 

Ready to greet a future that waves hello? Jump on board with us and get involved!

French Volunteer joins the team!

Alice Bray is a volunteer who worked for two months with us this summer, she reported on the impact of surf tourism on local communities in four different islands in Indonesia. She is in her third year of Bachelor in Sustainable Tourism Management in France and is now helping us with social medias. She fell in love with Indonesia and she is going back there next year for 5 months.

A Liquid Future was created on the principles of sharing knowledge and ideas, believing that from this process innovative, relatable and impactful initiatives spring forth.

Having volunteers come and experience the joy of sharing who they are with local communities and likewise providing the opportunity for members of remote coastal communities to have the chance to meet people from quite a different background and reality is an important part of what A Liquid Future is and how we continue to evolve.

Currently we have two French university students, Alice Bray and Ilona Enjalbert, who are studying Sustainable Tourism at Excelia Group University La Rochelle. As part of their degree course they need to spend time working with a humanitarian cause. We are delighted to be able to provide this opportunity to them and welcome them on board with A Liquid Future.

Female role models from other countries and cultures have proven very impactful in our Girls’ Empowerment projects. The local girls and women gain an example of what life is like and what opportunities exist for women in other regions of the world. This has a positive impact, inspiring and giving hope and a sense of support.

Currently in Nias for the Asian Surfing Cooperative WQS Surf Competition, the first stage of their project involves carrying our empirical research looking into the impact surfing and surf tourism has had at three quite different locations across Indonesia. They have conducted interviews across a broad sector of the local population while also talking to visiting foreign surfers here for the competitions. Experiencing the reality of a place and its people first hand is giving great context to what they have studied at university, which, for the most part, is sustainable tourism models in high income countries where education standards are very good, governments informed and sustainability an understood concept. Not true of all locations across Indonesia. We, along with partner, the Asian Surfing Cooperative are using the results from their research to further engage with the local governments in these locations to steer the influence surfing and surf tourism has on the area along sustainable lines.

Their research in the first two locations they have visited, Krui and Nias, shows that local people want and support surf tourism as they are keen to meet people from other countries, see it as a way to improve their socio-economic reality and move away from a subsistence fishing / agrarian way of living. The concept of sustainability is not well understood. When you are trying to break free of the poverty cycle, rapid infrastructural development and large resorts are favoured by locals. Using what they have studied thus far during their degree combined with their on the ground experiences, Alice and Ilona are working on a priority list of recommendations. They have also been learning to surf with the locals! Ayo Alice dan Ilona!

We will update you on their progress with another article next week!

We are working together to bring much greater visibility to the potential surfing has to bring positive social and environmental change to communities globally, using sport as a tool for unity and sustainable development.

ALF Morotai has the pleasure of featuring in Indonesia’s TV One Travel Programme “Personal Nusantara” (Archipelago Charm)! Keen to find out more about the local surfing communities and that girls surfed here too, the production team arrived with one of Indonesia’s top girl surfers, Salini Rengganis from Java (see photo). This was a thrill for local surfer girls who up until now had not met a professional girl surfer!

Combining ALF’s social approach to marine conservation with Oceanwise’s scientific know-how, Our Future Waves is a Reef and Coastline Health monitoring programme with a difference.

We are delighted to announce that we have been granted membership to Australia’s peak body for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) involved in international development and humanitarian action.

Hailing from diverse backgrounds including Marine Science, Business, Teaching and Creative Media, the new crew all share a love of surfing, the ocean, helping people and a deep-seated belief that surfing has a huge, and largely unrealised, role to play in building resilient and equitable communities across remote coastal communities of the developing world.

After the success of ALF’s and the Morotai Government Department of Tourism’s Surf Camp 1.0 collaboration in 2019 with Indonesian former professional surfer Dede Suryana, we were thrilled to invite him back in 2021 and provide the opportunity for local surfers to further improve their skills.

Led by Dr Ben Fitzpatrick, Oceanwise Australia is a specialised environmental sciences firm contributing research, management, conservation and monitoring of marine and coastal ecosystems

The Morotai Government demonstrates its support and understanding of the potential of surfing and surf tourism to the island and its people by building two community surf centres!

The objective of the project was to engage club members and villagers in interactive activities based on Morotai Surfing Association’s values.