Data protects environments. Communities protect people. KISTERS is investing in both.

KISTERS Future Guardians Programme.

For over sixty years, KISTERS has put accurate environmental data in the hands of people working to protect our environment. In 2025, that commitment took to the water – backing a group of young Australians learning to protect their local ocean and look after their beach.

A beach, a community, and an opportunity waiting to be taken.

Australia’s relationship with the beach is unlike almost anywhere else in the world. The coastline is embedded in national identity – a place of freedom, community, and daily ritual. But the ocean is not forgiving, and knowing how to stay safe in it is not instinctive. It has to be taught.

For decades, Surf Life Saving (SLS) clubs have been the backbone of that education. Since 1907, these volunteer organisations have trained ordinary Australians to become extraordinary first responders – the people in the red-and-yellow caps who patrol the nation’s beaches every summer, read dangerous conditions in seconds, and pull strangers from the surf. Every year, they save thousands of lives.

SLS clubs run structured pathways for young people. Nippers – the beloved junior programme for children up to age 13 – introduces kids to the beach and ocean through fun, games, and foundational water safety skills. Whilst children can then progress towards their training to become ‘Bronze Medallion’ patrolling surf lifesavers, there was a lack of structured ongoing skills and youth development.

That is precisely where the Collaroy Breakers comes in.

Where environmental data meets community action

KISTERS is an international environmental data and insights organisation with 750 experts across more than 30 nations. For six decades, KISTERS has built the technology and systems that enable governments, water authorities, and environmental agencies to collect and act on data – giving decision-makers the insights they need to protect our environment.

That same principle – enabling others to act – is what drew KISTERS to sponsor the Collaroy Breakers.

“At KISTERS we spend our days helping people make sense of water and the environment so they can make good decisions about it. These kids are learning to read the ocean, look after each other, and look after their beach – and we’re proud to be backing the next generation doing exactly that.”

– Chris Tornatore, General Manager HydroMet, KISTERS

The sponsorship sits under KISTERS Future Guardians programme – a commitment to investing in the next generation of environmental stewards around the world.

Meet the Collaroy Breakers

In 2025, Collaroy Surf Life Saving Club launched the Collaroy Breakers – a structured training programme for young people aged 13 to 17, bridging the gap between the junior Nippers programme and becoming young patrolling surf lifesavers. It is a critical middle chapter in a young person’s surf lifesaving journey, and it did not previously exist at this club.

Getting it off the ground required resources, community commitment, and a sponsor willing to back the programme before it had even run a single session. KISTERS stepped in at that founding moment – providing branded kit for the first members of the Collaroy Breakers and giving the programme the foundations it needed to launch with confidence.

“Launching a programme like this from scratch takes an enormous amount of effort from everyone involved – the coaches, the parents, the club. Having KISTERS come on board from the very beginning, before we had even run our first session, gave us real confidence. It told our young people and their families that this programme had solid backing and a future. We couldn’t have hit the ground running the way we did without that support. What I didn’t anticipate was how quickly these young people would grow – not just in their surf skills, but in their confidence, their friendships, and their sense of belonging to something bigger than themselves. That is what a strong community programme does, and that is what we built.”

– Barry Muncke, Head of Collaroy Breakers, Collaroy Surf Life Saving Club

Over the course of their first season, the members of the Collaroy Breakers built the foundational skills of surf lifesaving – gaining the knowledge and competence that will carry them toward full qualification as surf lifesavers.

Why this matters beyond Australia’s shores

Australia’s coastal environment is one of the most dynamic on earth. Ocean conditions shift quickly, rip currents are invisible from the surface, and reading the sea is a skill that takes time and guidance to develop. That is precisely why the SLS pathway matters – and why trained, knowledgeable people on the beach make such a difference to the communities around them.

Young people who go through SLS pathways learn to read those conditions instinctively. They do not just protect themselves – they develop the instinct to protect others. They become the people their communities rely on.

As coastlines around the world continue to evolve, community-based ocean literacy becomes an increasingly valuable asset. People who can read and respond to changing conditions do not just protect themselves – they strengthen the resilience of entire communities.

Inspiring the Next Generation of Global Leaders

At the heart of the KISTERS Future Guardians global sponsorship initiative lies the vision of inspiring and educating the next generation of environmental leaders by forging impactful partnerships at community and regional levels. Together, we are on a mission to empower people with the information, tools, knowledge, and confidence to address urgent environmental issues. From coastal regions and river systems to forests and fire-prone landscapes, KISTERS is working to make critical environmental data accessible, so that communities can adapt, act and thrive.

Following the success of KISTERS first Future Guardians partnership with the Collaroy Breakers in Sydney, KISTERS North America brought the initiative to its region through a partnership with Wilderness Inquiry and its Canoemobile programme. The sponsorship helped sustain an annual nature-based learning experience at California’s Cosumnes River Preserve following reductions in available grant funding.

Using the river as a floating classroom, students explored their local waterway by canoe, learned about birdlife, biodiversity and Miwok culture, planted native purple needlegrass to support habitat restoration, and built confidence through hands-on outdoor learning. KISTERS’ support also enabled a dedicated, accessible session for adults with different abilities through Sacramento County’s Therapeutic Recreational Services.

Read about the Canoemobile programme here. Link to: https://www.kisters.net/canoemobile-connects-students-with-local-waterways/

Together, the Collaroy Breakers and Canoemobile partnerships demonstrate how KISTERS regions are bringing the Future Guardians vision to life in ways that respond to their local communities and environments.

Whether they are navigating the surf or paddling in tranquil waters, these programmes provide young people with opportunities to develop the skills they need to lead and manage the world they will inherit.

Protecting what we love, together

KISTERS sponsorship of the Collaroy Breakers reflects a conviction that runs through everything the company does: that the right data, in the right hands, enables action. Environmental stewardship and community safety both depend on the same thing – people who are equipped to understand what they are looking at, and empowered to act on it.

The Future Guardians programme exists to support exactly this kind of foundational investment – in people, in communities, and in the next generation who will carry the responsibility of protecting our natural world.

“Twelve young people completed the Collaroy Breakers’ first season. That represents twelve people who now understand their beach and their ocean differently – who move through coastal environments more safely, look out for each other, and who might one day put on the red and yellow to save a life. Future Guardians is not just a programme name. It is the reason sponsorships like this one matter.”

– Jessica McKenzie, Marketing Manager APAC, KISTERS

A first season – and a foundation

The Collaroy Breakers has completed its inaugural season. Twelve young people have taken their first steps on the path to becoming surf lifesavers. A programme that did not exist before 2025 is now established, running, and growing in confidence – a fact recognised beyond the club itself. The Collaroy Breakers were nominated for Community Engagement of the Year at the Sydney Northern Beaches Branch Awards of Excellence, a reflection of the impact this programme has already made in its very first year.

KISTERS role was to help make that launch possible – to stand alongside a community that shares its values, and to invest in the people who will one day stand on the shore and keep others safe.

“What the Collaroy Breakers has shown is that when you build something properly – with the right structure, the right support, and a genuine commitment to young people – the community responds. We are proud of what this group has achieved in a single season, and we hope this programme inspires other clubs to invest in the same space. The future of surf lifesaving is being shaped right now, one cohort at a time.”

– Barry Muncke, Head of Collaroy Breakers, Collaroy Surf Life Saving Club