Culture park needs native flora

We agree with your correspondents who said native flora is vital for the West Kowloon cultural park project.

There is a fantastic opportunity to create a park to improve inner-city biodiversity and to raise awareness and educate the public about indigenous plants and animals by providing a living green library of information for Hong Kong for generations to come.

A park with native woodland should be developed based on the expertise of a team of people who are passionate about local biodiversity.

As well as knowledgeable experts familiar with Hong Kong's natural indigenous flora and fauna such as horticulturalists, landscapers, and naturalists, these can include villagers familiar with local trees and other plants.

This whole process should be open to genuine public consultation, so the park really meets the desires of local people, playing a role in sustaining the vitality of Hong Kong - Asia's wild city. This would avoid falling into the trap of creating another "ecological project" that might prove profitable for consultants, but is just another poorly conceived, quick-fix green project pretending be "ecologically enhancing" while resulting in the reverse, with predominately non-native trees planted.