Hong Kong's old trees suffer the unkindest cut of all: felling accelerates despite creation of management office
Post study finds that heritage trees are being felled at a faster rate now than they were before the creation of tree management office in 2010
Heritage trees are being felled at a faster rate today than they were before the 2010 launch of a tree management office, the Post has found, a situation one expert called unacceptable.
A review of 527 heritage trees, also known as Old and Valuable Trees (OVTs), on the government's register set up in September 2004 found at least 71 had since died or been removed.
Of these, 41 had gone since the establishment of the office in March 2010 - an average attrition rate of 10 trees a year. In the five years before the office was set up, only 30 trees were removed - an average of six a year.
Ninety per cent of the trees that died in the past four years were managed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, and 60 per cent were on Hong Kong Island. More than a third died of brown root rot disease, which has spread across the city.
Last month Secretary for Development Paul Chan Mo-po declined a request by lawmakers to introduce a tree protection law, at a time when the government is also under pressure to ensure the safety of private trees after one fell and killed a pregnant woman in Mid-Levels in August.
"The rate of OVT loss was unacceptable in the past, and is getting even more unacceptable in recent years," said Professor Jim Chi-yung, a tree expert at the University of Hong Kong.