Increasing Fossil Fuel Exploration Threatens Biodiversity Hotspots, Say Activists at COP30

Despite government commitments to protect sensitive natural areas and biodiversity hotspots, oil and gas exploration continues to rise both in the Amazon and in Southeast Asia, according to a group of environmental activists at COP30. 

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The group of activists, which includes Earth Insight, the ARAYARA Institute, the Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development (CEED), and Urgewald, have designated Southeast Asia’s Coral Triangle and Verde Island Passage the “Amazon of the ocean” because of its biodiversity and importance to local marine ecosystems, as well as the economic importance to local communities. 

While the fossil fuel industry is in focus at COP30 due to the greenhouse gas emissions created through combustion, “it is essential that governments recognize oil and gas is not only a climate threat,” said Florencia Librizzi, Deputy Director at Earth Insight at an on-site press conference at COP30. “It directly impacts Indigenous people, food security, and livelihoods.”

According to CEED, new maps reveal that ongoing or planned oil and gas expansion, including the buildout of liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities, significantly overlap with marine and terrestrial biodiversity hotspots. In the Amazon, about 25 million hectares, or 14%, of the key biodiversity areas overlap with oil and gas explorations, while 16% of oil and gas blocks in the Coral Triangle region overlap with 210,000 square kilometers of conservation areas and 80 protected areas.

The activists highlighted the FZA-M-59 block of the Amazon, where a drilling license was recently granted. “This will be devastating for nature and for social regions,” said Librizzi at the press conference.

The annual climate conference and negotiations are currently underway in the city of Belém in Brazil’s state of Pará, dubbed as the gateway to the Amazon – whose rainforest and reef systems are both endangered by new fossil fuel extraction plans.

“The new license at FZA-M-59 opens the gate for new companies to engage in new exploration,” said Joubert Marques, a climate and geosciences analyst at the ARAYARA Institute. “While the world and Brazil talk about a just energy transition, we have seen a massive fossil fuel expansion in the Amazon and all over [South] America. All of this expansion puts the Amazon at risk.” According to the activists, corporations dominate oil and gas exploration, with Eneva controlling the largest area. 

On the other side of the world, coastal and marine habitats in Southeast Asia are also under threat from drilling.

According to CEED, Southeast Asia houses a third of the world’s coastal and marine habitats, a third of the world’s coral reef species, more than half of the world’s tropical peatlands, and almost half of the world’s mangrove areas. The Verde Island Passage, which is home to two UNESCO World Heritage Sites, is threatened by both coal and gas extraction.

“We have 43 GW of coal and 136 GW of gas still planned for expansion. Many of these projects sit inside or dangerously close to protected areas, conservation zones, and critical habitats. Our water and our people are under siege,” said Avril De Torres, Deputy Executive Director of CEED. “The Philippines government has already pledged to protect the VIP, while simultaneously activating the exploration that endangers it. Protecting biodiversity is not only a climate imperative, it is a moral responsibility.”

The groups also highlighted the role of financing in fossil fuel buildout. Deutsche Bank, HSBC, and UBS are financing projects in both of these biodiversity hotspots, according to Urgewald, while UBS, which is building gas power plants in the Amazon in Brazil, is also the third largest European investor in San Miguel Corporation, a company driving the gas buildout in the Verde Island Passage in the Philippines.

“The thing they have in common is the money behind them,” said Klara Butz, an Urgewald campaigner, at the press conference. Urgewald recently published a report entitled “Following the Money Trail” which analyzes the source of funding for fossil projects in both locations.

De Torres called on delegates at COP30 to take action to protect these areas from the threat of fossil fuels: “We call on [global leaders] to recognize the role of fossil fuels in endangering marine and terrestrial ecosystems, and harming communities. ⁠Second, declare key biodiversity areas and wildlife corridors, such as the Mekong Delta, the Coral Triangle, and the Verde Island Passage, as no-go zones for all extractive and destructive activities.  And, finally, commit to an accelerated protection and recovery of biodiversity to achieve the 30×30 global target, requiring a transition away from environmentally destructive production practices.”