The Philippines

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The National Flag of the Philippines                              Source: Wikipedia

The Philippines is the second largest archipelagic nation in the world, with more than 7,100 islands covering an estimated land area of 300,000 square kilometres (almost half of the land area of Singapore!) and an estimated 2.2 million square kilometres of the archipelagic waters.

Being home to a vast species of fishes and corals than any other marine environment on earth, she is also known as the epicentre of marine biodiversity. The entire country forms the apex of the Coral Triangle and has a coral reef system covering about 27,000 square kilometres of the country’s marine area.

With more than 1,700 reef fish species and an estimated 9 percent of the world’s coral reefs residing in the waters of the Philippines, the region’s reef system is estimated to worth more than U.S. $1.1 billion annually because of the ecosystem services such as fishing, tourism and storm protection it provides.

However, as of today, around 97 percent of reefs in the Philippines are under threat, with nearly 80 percent classified at high or very high risk and only 5 percent of them at an excellent condition.