NATURE OUTLOOK

Review of 
Nature Conservation Policy

Executive Summary

Background

		Despite its rapid urban development and dense population, Hong Kong owns a beautiful natural environment that provides home for a variety of wild animals and plants.  This natural asset of ours generates significant benefits to the community through offering them venues for recreation, nature education and eco-tourism.  Yet, there are always competing demands for land to meet economic and social needs.  The Government’s objective is to strike a proper balance to ensure that Hong Kong’s development needs are met without doing unacceptable damage to the natural environment.  

2.		To protect the natural environment, the Government has been implementing a nature conservation policy and various measures to protect sites of high ecological importance.  These include –

(a)	the establishment of country parks and special areas for management by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) under the Country Parks Ordinance;

(b)	the designation of conservation zonings, including Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), Conservation Area (CA) and Coastal Protection Area (CPA), on town plans made under the Town Planning Ordinance to protect the sites from development threats and incompatible land uses;

(c)	the establishment of restricted areas under the Wild Animals Protection Ordinance to control access to important wildlife habitats;

(d)	the implementation of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Ordinance under which proponents of designated projects are required to avoid causing adverse environmental impact or, where avoidance is not practicable, to mitigate the impact to an acceptable level; 

(e)	the implementation of conservation plans for important habitats (e.g. wetlands at Mai Po and Inner Deep Bay) and species (e.g. the Chinese White Dolphin and Black-faced Spoonbill); and

(f)	public education and publicity to enhance public awareness of our valuable natural environment and the importance of protecting it.

3.		In recent years, there have been debates from time to time on whether a particular site really deserves conservation especially when there are plans to develop the site.  There are also criticisms about the limitations of the existing nature conservation policy and measures in conserving ecologically important sites that fall under private ownership.  The Government has therefore conducted a review on the existing policy and measures with the objective of identifying areas for further improvement.  

Findings of the Review

Conservation efforts and achievements

4.		The review has reassured us that the implementation of the existing nature conservation policy and measures over the past years is effective in protecting our natural heritage.  Through the designation of country parks, special areas and conservation zonings on town plans, about 48,200 hectares, or 43% of the total land area of Hong Kong, are now put under protection in one form or another.  This “protected areas” system, together with other conservation efforts, is instrumental in maintaining the integrity of many important natural habitats and preserving the rich biodiversity in Hong Kong.  Some may be amazed to know that the territory currently supports an impressive diversity of wild plants and animals, including some 3 100 species of vascular plants, 50 species of mammals, 450 species of birds, 80 species of reptiles, more than 20 species of amphibians, 140 species of fresh-water fish, 230 species of butterflies and 100 species of dragonflies.  Hong Kong compares favourably with other cities at a similar stage of economic development in terms of both the share of areas protected for nature conservation purpose and the level of biodiversity.

5.		Apart from offering a sanctuary for wildlife, our natural environment is of high scenic quality and provides vital resources for the development of recreational and tourism activities. It offers a countryside resort for busy urban dwellers and improves the quality of our life.  The beautiful habitats and species also provide opportunities for developing eco-tourism that generates economic gains.  Every year the country parks attract over 10 million visitors.  Our natural environment is also a living classroom for students and an ideal venue for scientific researches and studies.  

Limitations

6.		The existing nature conservation measures are not without limitations.  Currently we do not have a system for evaluating the ecological value of individual sites in an objective and systematic manner.  This sometimes leads to debates on whether and, if so, what sort of nature conservation efforts and priority for action should be accorded to individual sites.  These debates may in turn affect planning of development projects. Moreover, the existing conservation measures are not fully effective in protecting sites of high ecological importance that fall under private ownership from incompatible human activities like change of agricultural practices, war games or off-road driving as we do not have much power to control those activities.   

Improvement Proposals

Introduction of a scoring system for assessing ecological value of sites

7.		To enable a more objective and systematic evaluation of the relative ecological value of individual sites, we have worked out a scoring system after drawing reference from international practices.  Under the proposed scoring system, the relative ecological importance of individual sites is assessed by taking account of the value of their peculiar habitat and biodiversity.  The proposed assessment criteria and their respective weighting are as follows –

Habitat Criteria	Weighting (%)	
Naturalness	15	
Habitat diversity	15	
Size	10	
Non-recreatability	10	
Degree of disturbances	10	
		
Biodiversity Criteria		
Species diversity & richness	20	
Species rarity / endemism 	20	
Total 	100	

The proposed scoring system will facilitate the community in reaching a consensus on the priority sites for enhanced conservation, and that will in turn help us focus our efforts and resources on the most deserving areas.

8.	 	Moreover, AFCD is now conducting territory-wide ecological surveys with a view to establishing a comprehensive ecological database in phases by 2005.  The findings of the ecological surveys will supplement the existing ecological information available and provide useful input to the proposed scoring system for identifying priority sites for enhanced conservation. 

Options to better conserve ecologically important sites under private ownership

9.		We have examined a number of options and consider that the most practicable ones to better conserve those sites are through partnerships with key stakeholders including landowners and non-government organizations (NGOs) in the pursuit of the nature conservation objective.  We consider that the following two options are more practicable and worthy of further examination for application to the priority sites to be identified –  

(a)	Management agreements with landowners

	Under this option, NGOs will be encouraged to enter into management agreements with the landowners concerned either with government subsidies or their own funding for managing the ecologically important land to meet the nature conservation objective.  Flexibility will be provided for programmes that best suit the needs of individual sites to be drawn up.  The success or otherwise of this option will depend on the willingness of NGOs and landowners to participate in such agreements.    

(b)		Private-public partnership

Under this option, development at an agreed scale will be allowed at the less ecologically sensitive portion of an ecologically important site provided that there is a viable and acceptable plan and an undertaking to conserve the remaining part of the site on a long-term basis.  Non in-situ land exchange with full justifications may be considered on an exceptional basis for such schemes.  This option will encourage the private sector, landowners, developers and NGOs alike, to draw up proposals that, if successfully implemented, can satisfy both nature conservation and development needs.  Its implementation will depend on the private sector’s initiative to submit proposals.  Each proposal will be assessed on its own merits.  

10.		We have also examined a number of other options in the review, viz. tightening the existing conservation measures, land resumption, land exchange, off-site mitigation and transfer of developments, but consider that they are impracticable and that they should not be pursued.  Those other options either carry huge financial and land resources implications, or involve implementation complexities and difficulties that will more than balance out the conservation objective they can achieve –
  
(a)	improving the existing conservation measures by tightening the permitted land uses under conservation zonings: this is impracticable since it is not possible to draw up an exhaustive list of incompatible human activities that should be prohibited at those sites;

(b)	land resumption: the financial implication is huge – it is estimated that the potential resumption and clearance costs for the acquisition of about 10 ecologically important sites involving some 1,000 hectares of private land will be about $20 billion;

(c)	land exchange: this will involve a direct grant of government land by way of private treaty and is against the long established principle of open competition on land resources.  Besides, there is not enough government land in the land reserve for implementing this option; 

(d)	off-site mitigation: its operation is very complicated and will entail significant and controversial amendments to the existing EIA mechanism including a number of well-established principles for dealing with ecological impact arising from development projects; and

(e)	transfer of development rights: this is not applicable in Hong Kong because important habitats are usually found on land under agricultural leases that do not carry any development rights.

Public Support and Consultation

11.		Our natural heritage is a valuable asset important to the maintenance of ecological balance and improvement of the well-being of the community.   Every member of the community has the right to enjoy the benefits generated from this valuable asset.  At the same time, all of us have the obligation to protect it from threat or disturbance.  

12.		Public support and participation is essential to the success of the nature conservation objective. This executive summary has summarized the background to and the results of our review of the nature conservation policy and measures, the details of which are set out in a consultation document entitled “Nature Outlook” that can be downloaded from the Government’s website at http://www.etwb.gov.hk. We are now conducting a public consultation exercise to solicit your views on the review.  Please take this important step in actively participating in nature conservation work by sending us your comments on the following –

(a)	the introduction of the proposed scoring system for assessing, in a more objective and systematic manner, the relative ecological importance of sites with the objective of reaching a consensus within the community on the priority sites for enhanced conservation; and
	
(b)	practicable ways to better conserve ecologically important sites that are under private ownership within limited resources.
	
Please send your views by letter, facsimile or e-mail to the Environment, Transport and Works Bureau, Government Secretariat at the following address on or before 18 October 2003 –

10/F Citibank Tower
3 Garden Road, Central
Hong Kong

Facsimile: 2136 3321
E-mail address: nature_views@etwb.gov.hk
Enquiry telephone no. : 2150 7144

13.		We will take full account of the views received in finalising the way forward.  

Environment, Transport and Works Bureau
Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department