Unveiled at Convention on Biological Diversity COP16 in Cali (Colombia), it maps alarming overlap of oil, gas, and mining concessions with Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) across Amazon Basin, Congo Basin, and Southeast Asia.

• These regions store vast amounts of carbon, playing vital role in regulating global climate and sustaining life on Earth.

Key Findings

• 518 KBAs (or 18% of KBAs by area) in pantropics are under active and potential oil and gas concessions.
• Oil and gas blocks overlap with 14% of KBAs and 12% of Indigenous Territories by area in Amazon.
• Over 180 million hectares of high-integrity forests are either undergoing or have planned fossil fuel extraction projects across pantropics.

About KBAs

• KBA are sites of global importance to planet’s overall health and persistence of biodiversity.
• Sites qualify as global KBAs if they meet one or more of 11 criteria, clustered into five higher-level categories i.e.
  • Threatened biodiversity; Geographically restricted biodiversity; Ecological integrity, Biological processes, and Irreplaceability.

Challenges in protecting KBAs

• Competing interests between conservation and resource extraction such as growing demand for minerals which are used in renewable energy technologies. E.g. Nickel Mining
• Unprotected KBAs are vulnerable to degradation from spillover effects associated with infrastructure development for oil, gas, and mining projects.