New green chief in plea to protect sea life
The government has been warned that it cannot revive the economy while maintaining a 'bankrupt environment', according to privacy commissioner-turned-environmentalist Stephen Lau Ka-man.
Taking up his new post as head of the World Wide Fund for Nature Hong Kong (WWF) yesterday, Mr Lau said the government had a long way to go in safeguarding Hong Kong for its people and future generations. He said the city needed to focus more on conserving its marine life and environment.
'Conservation is about human rights and the safekeeping of where we live and the quality of life for ourselves, our children and their children ... it's about the existence of our planet and our ability to survive as a species,' Mr Lau said. 'You cannot build a thriving economy on a bankrupt environment.'
He urged the government to implement its declared policy on sustainable development. Although the government had made progress in its conservation policy in recent years, it still had a long way to go, he said.
With the WWF and the government largely concentrating on conserving flora and fauna on land in the past, Mr Lau said he would like to give attention to the sea.
More than 40 per cent of Hong Kong's land is classified as country parks and protected, but only 2 per cent of the coastline is protected, he said.
Developments such as the Pearl River Delta bridge project also threatened sea life, he said.
Around the Deep Bay area near the Mai Po wetlands, dredging and reclamation will reduce flushing - or the movement of water - leading to the buildup of sediments. 'The quality of water will reduce the health of Mai Po and its animals ... and there will be less food for the white dolphins,' he said. Dolphins were also threatened by underwater construction noise.
Mr Lau, who stepped down as privacy commissioner in 2001, said that growing up in Hong Kong, close to the ocean, he had always been interested in the sea and the life within it.
'When I was a kid growing up in Hong Kong, I enjoyed recreational fishing and there were fair amounts of fish like garoupa and sea bass in Hong Kong's surrounding water. But now the fish are no longer there,' he said.
