Leaders from six Coral Triangle nations gathered in Dili this week, reaffirming their commitment to safeguarding the world's most biodiverse marine region. The 19th Senior Officials' Meeting of the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries, and Food Security (CTI-CFF) concluded with ambitious conservation targets for 2025, designed to address overfishing, climate change, and pollution that endanger marine ecosystems and threaten the livelihoods of 130 million coastal residents.
The Coral Triangle spans six million square kilometers across Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste, and harbors 76% of all known coral species, earning its reputation as the "Amazon of the Seas." It supplies over 20% of the world's seafood and supports economies across Asia-Pacific. But the ecological powerhouse faces mounting pressures, with climate-induced coral bleaching, habitat destruction, and illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing threatening its delicate balance.
