Opinion | How Hong Kong can heed the urgent call of the UN extinction report

Hong Kong consumes more than the rest of the world put together on average, yet it has the capacity and resources to be a global leader of change

The city must recognise that the dire degradation of the Earth will affect business profitability, the security and health of its citizens, and everyone’s quality of life

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Pangolin scales and elephant tusks seized by Hong Kong Customs, seen at a February briefing on combating the smuggling of endangered species. Hong Kong should take the lead in stemming the haemorrhaging of the world’s wildlife. Photo: Winson Wong

Published: 10:15am, 12 May 2019Updated: 10:15am, 12 May 2019

The recent UN report warning how wounded our planet is – from our species’ “annihilation of biodiversity” to the profound degradation of our life-sustaining biosphere – should give us all pause.

This comprehensive analysis, built on solid science and not hand-waving, is a clarion call for Hong Kong to forego insular, inward thinking and act boldly to diminish our ecological footprint around the world. Hong Kong has the capacity and resources to become a global leader in the transformative change highlighted by the UN report as essential to save our species from great hardship.

The business-as-usual stance will inextricably link Hong Kong to the current drivers of change and degradation of the natural world around the globe. We humans, our governance systems, the sustainability of our economies, our livelihoods, health and security, are all strongly reliant on a healthy natural world.

Hong Kong’s high demand for live grouper and shark’s fin, for example, is pushing many species to extinction. Hong Kong’s ports remain a convenient and low-risk hub for containers of illegal ivory and pangolin scales, as evidenced by Hong Kong Customs’ January seizure of more than 1,000 elephant tusks and 8.2 tonnes of pangolin scales.

One can identify a long list of financial investments that directly drive the destruction and degradation of natural habitats, species populations and life-sustaining processes around the world. Hong Kong also remains notoriously active in the consumption and conveyance of increasingly rare and nearly-extinct biodiversity, including elephant and pangolin parts, shark and ray fins, rosewood, tortoises, tiger parts, rhino horn, threatened birds, and seahorses, to name a few.

Indeed, a major theme of the UN report was the strong pattern of resource extraction and production occurring in one part of the world to satisfy demand in distant regions. Hong Kong’s high consumption lifestyle has far-reaching effects.