Policy makers from more than 45 countries will gather in Santa Marta, Colombia later this month for the First International Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels, marking the first time governments have convened specifically to turn the global pledge to phase out fossil fuels into concrete policy.

While the conference has no direct precedent, the data being brought to the table makes clear why advocates say it presents a ‘moment that cannot be wasted.’

New analysis by Earth Insight, released ahead of the summit, shows that across 11 frontier regions, 19% of Marine Protected Areas are already overlapped by active oil and gas blocks. The same expansion is encroaching on 179 million hectares of intact tropical moist forest – roughly 21% of the world’s remaining high-integrity tropical forest across the Amazon, Congo Region, and Southeast Asia.

In the Amazon alone, 12% of Indigenous Peoples’ and Local Communities’ lands are overlapped by oil and gas blocks. In the Congo Basin, the figure for community forests reaches 38%.

The response being pushed by a coalition of Indigenous leaders, ocean advocates, and climate finance experts is a framework with a deliberately simple logic: Fossil-Free Zones – geographically defined areas where fossil fuel exploration, extraction, and related infrastructure are permanently off limits.

For the ocean science and conservation community, the marine data points to a fundamental contradiction at the heart of current policy: areas formally designated for protection are not, in practice, protected from fossil fuel development. Coral reefs, mangroves, and seagrass meadows – ecosystems that sequester carbon, sustain fisheries, and underpin coastal resilience – sit inside boundaries that oil and gas blocks routinely cross.

Bruna Campos, senior campaigner, Offshore Oil and Gas, Centre for International Environmental Law (CIEL), said: “Safeguarding our ocean is a cornerstone of climate action and a prerequisite for a successful fossil fuel phaseout. Transition plans must prioritise ending extraction in marine regions critical to ecological integrity, human rights, and climatic stability. By designating ‘fossil-free zones’ in vital habitats like coral reefs, mangroves, and seagrass meadows, we accelerate the global shift away from fossil fuels.”

The Santa Marta conference is being framed by organisers as the moment to move from language to action – and Fossil-Free Zones are being positioned as the most immediate tool available. Unlike aspirational targets, they operate through existing legal mechanisms, including protected area designations, formally recognised Indigenous territories, and financial exclusion policies.

Both the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the International Court of Justice have recognised Fossil Free Zones as effective instruments for meeting climate obligations under international law.

“Fossil Free Zones are one of the most concrete, actionable tools governments have to translate their commitment to transitioning away from fossil fuels into real, enforceable decisions on the ground,” said Ignacio Arroniz, senior associate at Earth Insight. “The First International Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels in Santa Marta is the moment for governments to add them to their national energy plans.”

In September 2025, Colombia became the first country to declare a region-wide FFZ, banning fossil fuel and large-scale mining extraction across its entire Amazon – a decision backed by research showing the untapped reserves would generate billions in stranded assets while threatening nearly 70% of Indigenous-governed territories.

More than 500 sites globally have now declared some form of Fossil-Free Zone, and the International Institute for Sustainable Development counts 58 active production restrictions across 25 countries and 27 subnational jurisdictions.

For many of the Indigenous delegates heading to Santa Marta, the conference is as much about sovereignty as it is about climate. Their territories sit at the intersection of the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet and the most aggressive remaining frontiers of fossil fuel expansion.

“For Indigenous Peoples, stopping fossil fuel extraction is not only a climate imperative, but it is also essential to defending our territories, our governance systems, and our right to self-determination,” said Juan Carlos Jintiach, executive secretary, Global Alliance of Territorial Communities (GATC).

When it comes to the financial sector, 11 major banks, including BNP Paribas, HSBC, and Citibank, have adopted exclusion policies restricting financing for fossil fuel projects in the Amazon, a development campaigners describe as proof that the FFZ concept is already functional in the private sector.

The conference also arrives at a rare moment of alignment across three major international processes – the COP30 roadmap on fossil fuel transition, the parallel roadmap on halting deforestation, and the Global Biodiversity Framework review at CBD COP17 in Yerevan.

Whether governments use that alignment to move from ambition to enforcement could be the defining question of the week ahead.

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