World Wildlife Fund

The Extraordinary Coral Triangle Sometimes the size of a solution needs to be equal to the size of the problem. In the Coral Triangle, it needs to be even bigger – in measures that go way beyond human scale.

The numbers speak for themselves: 1.6 billion acres, equal to half the size of the United States; natural habitats valued at more than US$2.4 billion annually; 75 percent of the world’s coral species and 53 percent of its reefs; more than 3,000 reef fish species including commercially vital yellowfin, skipjack and bigeye tuna; and some 120 million people deriving socioeconomic benefits from the Sulu, Sulawesi and other seas.

Some 600 species of reef-building corals live in the shallow waters off the shores of Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste. Among the species that depend on coral reefs are tunicates (such as the white and green sea squirt shown here) and nudibranchs or sea slugs (like the striped one in this photo).
© Top, Jürgen Freund; bottom, Brandon D. Cole

Yet this vibrant place is being degraded by development, indiscriminate local fishing, commercial overfishing and the effects of climate change. Our vision for the Coral Triangle is to protect the natural resources of the area and create economic opportunities for the people who live here. Crossing Political and Cultural Boundaries WWF has been on the ground in the region for decades. This is one of many places where our work crosses the borders of several countries, as it does in the Amazon, the Congo Basin, and Borneo and Sumatra.

This kind of conservation has become a WWF trademark. Nature knows no political boundaries and, as one of nature’s leading advocates, WWF rises to the challenge, brokering multinational agreements and helping neighboring governments establish protected areas within and across their borders, on land and in the sea.

A Solution Bigger Than the Entire Region In the Coral Triangle, WWF has helped bring together six countries – the Philippines, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, the Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste – in a multinational conservation initiative for the entire region. Across our global Network, WWF has partnered with The Nature Conservancy, Conservation International, the U.S. government and many others to gain international attention, political support, and financial commitments for the initiative. For example, USAID and the State Department are providing significant funding to help the six countries during the initiative’s formative stages.

On December 10, 2007, President Yudhoyono of Indonesia officially launched the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security, saying "Now is a time for action … I am deeply committed to this initiative ... I intend to do everything in my power to ensure its success. Together, we can create a more sustainable future for the people of this region.”

We invite you to meet this region, its people and its natural resources, through the extraordinary images of award-winning nature photographers Brandon Cole and Jürgen Freund.