The newly formed Hong Kong Countryside Foundation will identify sites for protection before digging into donors' pockets or appealing to landowners to transfer the land or sell it.
Leung Chun-ying, an executive councillor and one of the foundation's founders, said the selection process would go beyond ecological considerations, taking in landscape and visual values, cultural heritage and areas where traditional agriculture coexisted with ecology.
Factors such as size and acquisition cost would be used to form a list of priority sites to be tackled through purchase, rental agreement or donation by the property owners, he said.
Leung hinted that scenic Sai Wan beach, heavily excavated after a piece of land was bought by businessman Simon Lo Lin-shing, would be a priority for the foundation.
'We are not able to say anything at this stage until there is something concrete,' said Leung, a frontrunner for the chief executive election.
He said the list would require a few months of work before appeals for cash donation went out and no targets had been set.
