Gavin Coates
Bolstered by his love for natural history, landscape designer and children’s author Gavin Coates is organizing an open-top bus tour of Hong Kong’s trees. He talks to Lindsay Varty about his contributions to the Greening Master Plan, a government initiative to plant more trees in urban areas.
HK Magazine: Your bus tour includes insights into damage done to trees after July’s typhoon Vicente. How bad was it?
Gavin Coates: About 1,000 trees were damaged and uprooted during the typhoon, but it was mainly the younger plantings that suffered. Once a tree becomes well established, it is remarkably resilient to typhoon winds. The problem is if there isn’t enough space for the roots to grow, or if they are damaged during transplanting when they are young, it can often mean that the root ball is out of balance with the crown of the tree. These are the trees that are more vulnerable in typhoon winds.
HK: Do you think that trees should be pulled down if they pose a danger to people?
GC: It depends. The top priority for an arboriculturalist is public safety. The vast majority of our trees are remarkably stable. If a tree is found to be rotting or if the roots are damaged, then there may well be a very good case for taking it out.
HK: What is the Greening Master Plan?
GC: It is a government tree-planting project in the urban areas of Hong Kong. It focuses on greening unallocated government land. It started in Central and Tsim Sha Tsui in 2007, and was then followed by [other] urban areas. So far we’ve planted about 25,000 trees. We are now working on the New Territories Greening Master Plan.
HK: What more could be done?
GC: The impact of greenery in the city needs to be looked at in relation to transportation. There should be more focus on pedestrianizing and footpath widening. There should also be an urban forest program. It’s easy to say we want more greening, but it’s a complicated process in urban areas. There are so many underground utilities, lighting, and sightlines.
HK: Why is it important to protect Hong Kong’s ancient trees?
GC: There are environmental reasons: trees are good for air quality, and they provide shade, which is important for open spaces. Trees are a psychological relief from the architecture and built environment of Hong Kong; they have more of an effect on people than many realize. They are also part of Hong Kong’s urban heritage. When the Star Ferry was demolished, there was an outrage at the destruction of this “collective memory.” The same goes for the trees—they make up part of this collective heritage.
HK: Do you think that the government is putting too much attention on aesthetics rather than suitability when choosing which trees to plant around Hong Kong?
GC: In the past five or 10 years that’s been the case, but I think tree knowledge is now improving. The tree selection wasn’t always good. Nowadays, we’re working very hard to get good quality tree stock. The Leisure and Culture Services Department is responsible for most of the trees’ maintenance, and they now have some very good arborists and experts that come in to deal with the older, more important trees.