Released to coincide with the UN COP16 biodiversity summit in Colombia, the report warns that the expansion of oil, gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the Indo-Pacific region is endangering marine species and the communities that depend on it.

Nicknamed “the Amazon of the seas” due to the diversity of its species, the Coral Triangle covers more than 10 million square kilometers in the waters of Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, the Philippines, Timor-Leste and the Solomon Islands.

It contains three-quarters of the world’s known coral species, says the report from monitoring organizations including the Earth Insight Threat Mapping Research Project, satellite imagery monitoring organization SkyTruth and the Center for Energy, Ecology and Development, a Filipino think tank.

The triangle is home to six of the world’s seven species of sea turtles and serves as a feeding ground for whales and other marine mammals.

More than 120 million people depend on it for their livelihoods.

Yet oil and gas concessions and production areas overlap with tens of thousands of square kilometers of marine protected areas, the report said.

He noted more than 100 known offshore oil and gas blocks in production in the region. Another 450 blocks are being explored for future mining.

“If all blocks were to come into production, approximately 16% of the Coral Triangle would be directly impacted by fossil fuel development,” the report said.

He warned that the expansion of fossil fuels would increase tanker traffic and the risk of oil spills.

Since July 2020, satellites have spotted 793 oil slicks in the Coral Triangle, the report said.

Almost all were created by transiting ships, some by oil infrastructure.

“In total, all the slicks covered an area of ​​more than 24,000 km2, almost enough oil to cover the land of the Solomon Islands,” the report said.

Its authors called for a moratorium on oil, gas, mining and other industrial activities in environmentally sensitive areas of the Coral Triangle.

They also urged to “accelerate the use of LNG as a transition fuel” as the world moves away from coal and gas and straight to clean energy sources.

The report calls for the triangle to be designated a “particularly sensitive maritime area” requiring special protection against navigation.

The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, approved two years ago by 196 parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, sets 23 targets to “halt and reverse” biodiversity loss by 2030.

This includes ensuring that 30 percent of marine and coastal areas are “effectively conserved and managed” and that 30 percent are “under effective restoration”.

A report released Monday by Greenpeace indicates that only 8.4 percent of the world’s oceans are protected today.

“At current rates, we won’t reach 30 percent protection at sea until the next century,” said Megan Randles, Greenpeace policy advisor.

The biodiversity summit aimed to measure progress towards achieving the UN goals.