Mr. Henry Tang, Financial Secretary,
HKSAR, today officiated the Twelfth "Discover Mai
Po" Charity Walk Kick-off ceremony. Mr. Tang and
nature lovers joined the walk to explore the beauty
of Mai Po and learn the importance of the wetland
conservation following the ceremony. The walk is
fully supported by Canon Hongkong Co., Ltd with Commercial
Radio 1 as the official radio station.
"Discover Mai Po" is one of our annual major public
outreach programme, it provides a unique opportunity
for the public to learn more about Mai Po and our management
work at the reserve. Moreover, it is also a fundraising
event to raise the urgently needed funds for our conservation
and education works. The Walk is to be held on 28 November
5 and 12 December 2004.
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"Since WWF took up the role
of managing Mai Po in 1984, we have been facing a
lot of challenges. The closure of Mai Po Nature Reserve
from January to March this year led to the cancellation
of many education and public visiting programmes,
which has caused serious financial implications on
the organization. Luckily, with a better economy,
we have recorded a total of 2,500 participants for
the walk, an increase of 25% compared with the figure
of last year," said Mr. Markus Shaw, WWF Hong Kong
Chairman.
"I would like to take this opportunity to
express our sincere gratitude to all the sponsors
and participants of the Walk for the continuous
support for Mai Po . Your generous support has
enabled us to continue our conservation and education
programmes for the benefit of people and wildlife
in Hong Kong and China ," added Mr Shaw. |
Mai Po and Ramsar Site, with a total score of 2.85 marks,
ranked top at the 12 ecologically important sites in the
latest conservation policy announced recently. 16 terrestrial
mammal species, including Chinese Otter and Leopard Cat,
together with around 300 bird species could be found at the
Ramsar Site (over 60% of the total bird species recorded
in Hong Kong). More than 50,000 waterfowl winter annually
at the Deep Bay area.
Guests also attended the ceremony included Mr. Kensaku
Konishi, President & CEO of Canon Hongkong Co Ltd; Miss
Rita Chan, General Manager of Commercial Radio; entertainment
celebrity Mr. Daniel Wu; Miss Kate Tsui Tsz Shan, Miss Hong
Kong 2004 and Miss Fu Sze Sze, Miss Hong Kong 2004 2nd Runner
up.
A total of eight checkpoints were
set along the route to help participants to understand
our challenges in running the reserve. By joining the
walk, participants will not only have a chance to observe
wetland creatures such as mudskipper and fiddler crab,
but also to try a few Mai Po management tasks. Walkers
can also observe the endangered bird species Black-faced
Spoonbill at our Checkpoint 7. With around 1,200 Black-faced
Spoonbills in the world, a quarter of the population
winters at Mai Po every year. A new record of 305 endangered
Black-faced Spoonbills was recorded from the Mai Po
Inner Deep Bay Ramsar Site. Limited edition of Black-faced
Spoonbill LoLo T-shirts are available for sales at
the checkpoint. The checkpoints are as follows:
- Checkpoint 1 Walk with Mai Po 20 years
- Checkpoint 2 Mai Po's challenge I ˇV Spread of
Avian flu (H5N1)
- Checkpoint 3 Mai Po's challenge II ˇVIncident
of Japanese encephalitis
- Checkpoint 4 Mai Po's challenge III ˇV Exotic
species invasion
- Checkpoint 5 Mai Po's challenge IV ˇV Urbanization
in Deep Bay
- Checkpoint 6 Recent developments and projects
for the Reserve
- Checkpoint 7 Walk with Lolo - Mai Po is still
a heaven for waterbirds
- Checkpoint 8 Mai Po's past and future...Your
Support, our work!
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Special thanks to the following sponsors who have supported
the Walk:
Participating companies:
Allianz Insurance (Hong Kong) Limited, Clariant (China) Ltd.,
CLP Power Ltd., Coface Hong Kong Branch, Crown Worldwide
(HK) Ltd, Digital Crown Holdings (H.K.) Ltd, The Hong Kong
and China Gas Co. Ltd, The Hongkong Electric Co., Ltd,
The Hong Kong Federation of Insurers, Jebsen & Co Ltd,
Jet Light Development Ltd, Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation,
Leo Paper Group, Li & Fung Group, Nam Sang Wai Development
Co. Ltd., Ove Arup & Partners HK Ltd, Shaw and Sons
Ltd, Shun Hing Group and Solomon Systech Limited.
Acknowledgment:
AEON Stores (Hong Kong) Limited, Circle K, Getz Bros & Co
(HK) Ltd, MSN Hong Kong, New World PCS Limited, PCCW, Siber
Hegner Ltd, Telford International, Company Ltd, Yahoo and
Wyder Printing Company.
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