The nation’s marine conservation plan is being called into question, as almost all of the country’s Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), have been found to be exposed to fossil fuel activity in varying scales.

Environmental watchdog, RimbaWatch, stated that 97 percent of Malaysia’s MPA is encroached by active or proposed oil and gas blocks which the organisation describes as ” a systemic failure of marine governance in biodiverse ocean regions.”

This was outlined in a report by RimbaWatch titled ‘Reefs at Risk: Mapping Fossil Fuel Threats to Sensitive Marine Environments in Malaysia which was released in conjunction with World Oceans Day and Coral Triangle Day on June 8, 2026.

In the report, it is stated that Malaysia sits within two of the planet’s most ecologically critical marine zones, between the Coral Triangle and the Sulu-Sulawesi Marine Ecoregion, which are globally recognised for extraordinary marine biodiversity.

The ecosystem in this region supports fisheries, coastal protection, food security and tourism, but are increasingly threatened by fossil fuel exploration and extraction, of which nearly 38.5 percent, or nearly 20 million hectares, fall within Sensitive Marine Environments.

This includes MPAs, Important Marine and Coastal Areas (IMCAs), Important Marine Mammal Areas (IMMAs), Important Shark and Ray Areas (ISRAs) and coral reef systems which actually leaves only 5.3 percent of Malaysian waters being formally protected.

-THE MALAYSIA VOICE