Ecologist promotes nature and its creatures

There are some photographs pinned to the back of a stand which show a small slice of Hong Kong’s natural wildlife and habitat. These snapshots on display reveal some of environmental campaigner and educator Dickson Wong Chi-chun’s happiest childhood memories.

Wong, 37, is showing me the best pictures capturing the essence of the city’s true biodiversity.

He’s about to go on stage to present awards to winners of an environmental photographic competition arranged by students at the University of Hong Kong.

Before he makes the keynote speech as the special guest, on the sidelines, he points to a photo of lush fishpond wetlands that sit on the frontier with Shenzhen. He says he remembers how parts of Hong Kong reflected in just the one still photo before the redevelopment cranes came in.

“But now it looks like the big city. I can see the environment has been degraded, the biodiversity is lower, and the number of species is inevitably scarce,” he says. “It is really a trend that the government is encroaching on a green buffer zone.”