Our team recently had the privilege of welcoming partners from Milkywire, UK Blue Planet Fund, and BNP Paribas for a two-day field visit in Banggai, Indonesia. Together, we travelled from Luwuk to the remote community of Lumbi Lumbia aboard our low-impact ecotourism vessel, the Bajau, operated by Nomad Archipelago.
During the two days we combined site visits with in-depth conversations discussing our commitment to conserving and regenerating oceans at scale, for people and nature.
Highlights from the trip included:
- Learning more about our science projects and snorkelling over coral reefs – seeing their beauty as well as the impact of stressors that we’re minimising.
- Visiting our coral restoration site which uses MARRS Reef Star structures. This site is special because the deployment of the structures provided livelihood support for the wives of fishers. The structures are currently maintained by our science team, but in the future, this job will be carried out by graduates of BA’s swimming & snorkelling programme, that have moved to the next level and been dive certified.
- Engaging with participants from our ecoprinting livelihood programme, where we each had the chance to create our own scarves.
- Visiting the Sombuan ranger station and witnessing the dedication of local patrol groups (POKMASWAS) working to maintain marine protection and engage village leaders in stewardship.
- Visiting a pilot sea cucumber farm currently undergoing ecological trials for feasibility as a community-based grow-out facility.
- And perhaps most valuable were the discussions shared with village leaders and the POKMASWAS community group. These conversations gave our partners a chance to better understand the direct impact our work is having on community members’ lives.
We are grateful to Jill Raval (Milkywire), Ramadian Bachtiar (UK Blue Planet Fund), Sabrina Noiran, Sylvain Taboni, and Pauline Blandin (BNP Paribas) for joining us on this field visit.
Below are some testimonials from our partners:
“BNP Paribas, via its Impact Investing envelope and as part as its overall commitment to Ocean protection and conservation, is very proud to support Blue Alliance’s works in Indonesia. Through their innovative approach they’ve developed “reef-positive” ecotourism and aquaculture activities to generate sustainable sources of funding for MPA management. This field visit was a concrete opportunity to observe the urgency to protect coral reefs from destructive fishing activities in Central Sulawesi, and the hopes lying the impact potential of coral reefs protection & restoration, while collecting live testimonies from local communities supported by Blue Alliance’s operations in the region. We also had the opportunity to assess the quality of the work carried out by Blue Alliance’s local teams, who ensure a sustainable change in local practices while improving their quality of life for a real just transition.” – BNP Paribas Team
“Visiting Blue Alliance in Indonesia was a powerful reminder of why this work matters. Seeing reefs in every state — thriving, recovering, and damaged — and meeting local communities brought the urgency to life in a way no virtual meeting ever could. What resonated most was how reef-positive businesses like sea-cucumber aquaculture and the eco-cruise vessel aim to fund long-term MPA management. Milkywire is glad to support the strengthening of MPA co-management, advancing community enforcement and monitoring, and helping these blue-economy enterprises become investment-ready. It was a privilege to witness innovative finance in action, delivered by an exceptional team.” – Jill Raval, Milkywire
“Regenerating Oceans at Scale – For People and Nature”
