Row over tree cutting
Just as the globe celebrates World Wetlands Day today, a new row is brewing about Hong Kong's Nam Sang Wai. The wetland park is marked for development into an upmarket housing estate.
The plan has angered locals and conservationists alike. A mysterious fire on New Year's Eve burned off a huge area of the disputed wetland. Henderson Land Development, which wants to develop the area, has been clearing away the burned trees. The company also says it is cutting a firebreak - a gap in foliage which will stop future fires from spreading.
Yet Lau Hoi-lung, a geography student at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said he had seen healthy trees being cut down a long distance from the supposed firebreak. He reported on Monday that he had seen more than 10 healthy eucalyptus trees felled.
Lau said that although the trees seem to have suffered surface burns, their cross sections showed that their insides had not been affected by the fire.
Ken So Kwok-yin, chief executive of the Conservancy Association, told Young Post that for a firebreak to be effective, it needed to be at least 10 metres wide. Yet Nam Sang Wai is not wide enough for that.
He encouraged the land developers to look for a more environmentally friendly way of preventing future blazes.
Henderson representatives have told local media that the company had announced its plan for a firebreak last November. The developer said all the trees it had cut were certified as too damaged by its tree experts. It stressed that no healthy trees had been felled.
