Appoint a professional to head Hong Kong environment department rather than a bureaucrat, say advisers
The new head of the Environmental Protection Department should be someone with professional expertise rather just than another administrative officer, green groups and government advisers say.
Such a move would help prevent the director of environmental protection from making decisions based on politics, rather than science and fact, they argue.
The EPD and the then Environment, Transport and Works Bureau’s Environment Branch were merged to form the current structure in 2005 to “achieve synergy between policy formulation and implementation” and reduce staff costs. The Environment Bureau was formed two years later.
Before the split, the EPD functioned mainly as an executive department headed by a specialist and tasked with enforcing environmental laws and implementing policies. The environmentalists are calling for the role of the EPD and Environment Bureau to be delineated more clearly when incumbent director Anissa Wong Sean-yee retires.
“An administrative officer’s thoughts are on political compromise … Scientific evidence often takes more of a back seat,” said Friends of the Earth senior environmental affairs officer Melonie Chau Yuet-cheung.
Wong, an administrative officer, has headed the department since 2006. She also holds the post of permanent secretary for the environment.
University of Hong Kong ecologist Dr Billy Hau Chi-hang, a member of the Advisory Council on the Environment, agreed. He felt that it was common for the director to overlook scientific explanations from council members.
I do feel there is a powerful political lobby [in the council], but I don’t know where [it] comes from
The government is required to consult the council on environmental impact assessments, but rarely rejects the reports after consulting members.
“I do feel there is a powerful political lobby [in the council], but I don’t know where this lobbying power comes from,” he said. “The fact that officials don’t really study some of the explanations that experts in the council provide is quite disappointing.”
Hau noted that if the director of environmental protection had a background in ecology or environmental science, the controversial environmental report for the third airport runway “would never have been approved”.
Dr Michael Lau Wai-neng, a fellow council member, said an EPD director without an environmental background was likely to handle things like “just another project”.
“Ecology studies, for example, are not always so clear-cut and since the director carries a lot of discretionary power, sound professional judgment is very important,” said Lau, who is senior head of local biodiversity and regional wetlands for WWF Hong Kong.
A bureau spokesman said it would take into consideration the suggestion in any relevant reviews.
