A leading environmental group is concerned that plans for a wetland conservation belt in Hong Kong’s Northern Metropolis blueprint have potential downsides that might affect the habitat of migratory birds and protected areas that are privately owned.
WWF-Hong Kong said it gave “cautious support” for the plan to create three wetland conservation parks in Hoo Hok Wai, Sam Po Shue and Nam Sang Wai and link them to the existing Mai Po nature reserve and Hong Kong Wetland Park in the New Territories.
That will preserve about 2,000 hectares (4,942 acres) with ecological value, and will require resuming some private land.
The proposal is part of an ambitious blueprint announced in Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s policy address earlier this month to turn the northern New Territories into an engine of growth and home to 2.5 million people.
But the green group found “holes” in the strategy which could pose threats to biodiversity in the Deep Bay wetlands that are designated a “Ramsar site” protected by an international wetlands convention managed by Unesco.
Tobi Lau Shiu-keung, WWF-Hong Kong’s senior manager of biodiversity and conservation policy, said the group was concerned that development would affect the open space and sensitive natural environment, leaving the current wetland landscape fragmented.
A major issue was the proposal to free up 20 hectares for tech development by relocating existing border control facilities at the Lok Ma Chau boundary control point.
Noting that part of the control point was located within an existing wetland conservation area, Lau said high-rise development was likely to block the flight path of thousands of great cormorants – the large, black waterbirds visiting Hong Kong regularly over the winter.
“This could set an undesirable precedent for further encroachment into the wetland conservation area,” he warned.
In her announcement, city leader Lam said the government would resume about 700 hectares of private wetlands and fish ponds to create the three wetland conservation parks.
WWF-Hong Kong noted, however, that under the government’s 2004 nature conservation policy, 12 sites of ecological importance were identified for enhanced conservation, including the Ramsar site.
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Landowners in those sites could carry out limited development in areas considered less ecologically sensitive, provided they used their own resources to retain and conserve the ecologically important parts.
On the same day as Lam’s announcement, the Environment Bureau issued a press release saying landowners would now have the option of surrendering the conservation portion of their property to the government for protection.
Landowners would still be expected to pay for conservation efforts, but the bureau said the change would allow it to manage the sites “more proactively”.
Lau said the change was a “reactive approach” that depended on landowners’ willingness to give up their land and warned that if wetlands and fish ponds were left idle with no action taken to manage them, the result could be environmental degradation.
Allowing development in less ecologically sensitive areas could also affect the wetland ecosystem, he added.
“We are worried that this could lead to a piecemeal approach to conservation. This segmentation would pose an adverse impact to the ecological integrity of the Deep Bay Area wetland ecosystem,” he said.
He urged the government to resume all private wetlands within the conservation parks and compensate the owners, as allowed under the Lands Resumption Ordinance.
He also suggested amending the policy so that the public-private conservation scheme would not cover wetlands in the Northern Metropolis plan.
Some developers had residential projects planned or approved in the area before the government announced the conservation initiative in the Northern Metropolis scheme.
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Sun Hung Kai Properties received approval in February to build 1,518 homes in a wetland buffer area at Nam Sang Wai. CK Asset’s residential project at Fung Lok Wai – which includes its proposal to conserve fish ponds in the area – is also under review.
A joint venture at Nam Sang Wai by Henderson Land Development and KHI Holdings Group, to build 2,500 homes, is being reviewed by the Town Planning Appeal Board.
Chan Kwok-sun, 70, who has been running a fish farming business in Sam Po Shue for 36 years, welcomed the government’s plan to protect the wetlands but hoped his three ponds, totalling about two hectares, would be allowed to carry on.
“I’ve been doing this for a long time, so it will be a bit disappointing if I have to retire. I’ve put a lot of effort into my business,” he said.
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Officials have not yet said if the government intended to take back all or part of the private wetland sites for conservation in the metropolis scheme.
In a reply to the Post, the Policy Innovation and Coordination Office, which has helped Lam prepare her annual policy addresses, said the Northern Metropolis blueprint was a conceptual plan, so the exact locations of land to be resumed were still not known.
“The government, through the Environment Bureau, is required to conduct relevant studies to identify and confirm the coverage of the Wetland Conservation Parks, and to work out the implementation arrangements, details and timetable,” a spokeswoman said.
