Hong Kong risks losing endangered trees under plan to build public housing on golf course, expert and environmentalists warn

Hong Kong’s controversial plan to build public housing on part of its oldest golf course will threaten internationally endangered trees by disrupting the water supply at the site, an expert and environmentalists have warned.

Professor Jim Chi-yung, research chair of geography and environmental science at the Education University of Hong Kong, on Monday pointed to dangers posed to the 37 Chinese Swamp Cypress trees that are growing on the 32-hectare (79-acre) section of the Fanling golf course earmarked for redevelopment. The trees grow in a 1.4-hectare swamp on the site managed by the Hong Kong Golf Club.

The species is classified as critically endangered on an internationally recognised list and there are fewer than 250 mature trees globally. Mainland China has categorised it as requiring “first-class” protection.

“Hong Kong should be proud to host and protect this international treasure … governments, including China’s, are called upon to spare no effort to protect the species to prevent its extinction.”

The 37 valuable trees are located in the 23 hectares of land reserved for conservation and recreational uses, while the remaining nine hectares are designated for public housing construction under the plan.

But the professor said the plan could not protect these trees, despite them being in the designated conservation area, as the Old Course was the “catchment” that collected water for the wetland ecosystem. The government should preserve the ecologically sensitive area as a natural reserve while turning the remaining areas into buffer zones for conservation, he said.