Advertisement
Advertisement

Black-faced spoonbills build nest of green challenges

THE PRESENCE OF a critically endangered species of bird in a brackish swamp off Coloane Island has triggered a lively debate on environmental issues in Macau.

According to bird watchers, a flock of about three dozen black-faced spoonbills regularly spend the winter in the small wetland at the island's Stone Row Bay, which is known locally as Seac Pai Van.

Only an estimated 600 of this species, which is related to the ibis, still survive in the world and ornithologists warn that it faces a very high risk of extinction in the wild in the immediate future. Although the birds have long wintered on rocks off the Korean peninsula, as well as Hong Kong, Taiwan and Vietnam it was only recently that they also started stopping off in Macau.

The crux of the problem is that their chosen refuge in Macau has been earmarked for land reclamation. The Macau Government claims the area is nothing but a polluted pond resulting from the construction of dykes and roads in the area.

Its Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Ao Man-long, has pledged to create a wetland nature reserve nearby that would offer the rare birds a new 'environmentally correct' winter habitat.

A loosely organised group of activists - mostly middle-class 'greenies' from Macau and diehard bird watchers from Hong Kong - are up in arms over the Government's stance on the issue. A so-called 'Joint Declaration on the Rescue of the Seac Pai Van wetland and the Black-faced Spoonbills' maintains that the 'world will suffer an important loss of natural resources' if the Government redevelops 'this green property asset'.

The declaration calls on the Government to establish a wetland protection zone in the area and to adopt special measures to protect the black-faced spoonbills from extinction.

Whatever the outcome of the current debate, the issue could leave the Government rather red-faced if it failed to tackle the fate of its feathered friends in a sensible and reasonable way.

The fact that a flock of extremely rare birds has chosen Macau as its wintering habitat is a significant symbolic opportunity for the SAR. The birds' presence could become an additional tourist attraction and strengthen environmental awareness among the local population.

Regrettably, the Government's State of the Environment Report 2000 - which is strong on statistics and weak on analysis - ignores the existence of the black-faced spoonbills, apart from a photograph of the flock that does not even have a caption.

Irrespective of the report's shortcomings, its publication is a step in the right direction. Environmental protection is a must for a region that has one of the highest population and vehicle densities in the world - some 18,360 residents per square kilometre and about 114,000 cars and motorcycles - that means about 24 vehicles per sq km. The population density in downtown Macau amounts to 51,000 people per sq km.

Macau's pre-handover Portuguese rulers implemented a string of eco-friendly measures in the 1990s, such as construction of an incinerator and three sewage works, the opening of several new public parks and an improved refuse collection system.

Experts say that noise pollution, acid rain, emissions from power plants and vehicles, the 'abnormally high' concentration of lead in coastal waters and the proper disposal of the incineration plant's residue continue to be Macau's principal environmental challenges.

So why not turn the black-faced spoonbill into a symbol of Macau's commitment to conservation and environmental protection?

Harald Bruning is the Post's Macau correspondent

Post