From the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization’s (FAO) data bank researchers can see the huge potential of the Asean members’ ocean, mangroves and coral/reef resources. The Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia form the tip of the world’s golden coral triangle. The Philippines is the apex of the triangle while the base starts from Sumatra island from the west and extends to Papua New Guinea (which is not yet an Asean member) to the east. The Asean Center for Biodiversity in the UP Los Baños campus in Laguna province reveal this is only three percent of the world’s geographical surface, but the animal and plant lives constituting the human food chain there is almost 25 percent (and still counting) of the world’s total.

Santos, G. H. A. (2017, September 25). Know your marine assets and potentials (Last of 2 parts). The Manila Times, p. B5.