The world's most diverse marine region is under serious threat and needs urgent protection, environment watchdogs said today.

AROUND 100 million people risk losing their homes and livelihoods unless drastic steps are taken to protect southeast Asia’s coral reefs, which could be wiped out in coming decades because of climate change, a report said yesterday.

SCIENTISTS combing through undersea fauna off Indonesia’s Papua province said yesterday they had discovered dozens of new species, including a shark that walks on its fins and a shrimp that looks like a praying mantis.