Dr Theresa Mundita Lim concludes her six-year tenure as the centre’s first female executive director, where she championed a regional biodiversity fund, among other initiatives.

The region’s fossil fuel producers issued a joint statement calling for reduced methane emissions at the global summit. Civil society groups, however, want to see the presence of these corporates at COP diminished.

Global Witness warns that mining for green energy is fuelling conflict and human rights abuses in Asia and elsewhere, urging tougher standards and protections.

The initiative is philanthropy-led and will extend beyond traditional Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) to cover conservation of more existing ocean ecosystems. Less than 3 per cent of the region's national waters are under formal protection but a deadline to meet a global conservation target looms.