The WWF is run at a local level by the following offices...
- WWF Global
- Adria
- Argentina
- Armenia
- AsiaPacific
- Australia
- Austria
- Azerbaijan
- Belgium
- Bhutan
- Bolivia
- Borneo
- Brazil
- Bulgaria
- Cambodia
- Cameroon
- Canada
- Caucasus
- Central African Republic
- Central America
- Chile
- China
- Colombia
- Croatia
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Denmark
- Ecuador
- European Policy Office
- Finland
Our News
Flawed EIA Underestimated High Coverage of Globally Rare Corals at Third Runway Site WWF Urges Airport Authority to Immediately Halt Third Runway Construction
WWF-Hong Kong urges the Airport Authority to immediately halt the construction of the Third Runway in wake of new information revealing the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) heavily underestimated the site’s high coverage of globally rare corals, bringing into question the reliability of the EIA’s other marine ecological surveys.
A recent survey, commissioned by the Airport Authority prior to a plan to translocate affected corals, reported that the coverage of the globally rare, slow-growing gorgonian coral Guaiagorgia sp. within the immediate footprint of the Third Runway and the landing point of the underwater aviation fuel pipeline at Sha Chau – which is part of the Sha Chau and Lung Kwu Chau Marine Park – was up to 20 per cent with about 6,400 colonies of the species found. The EIA conducted in 2012 to 2013 concluded that the gorgonian coral’s coverage was much lower with only 1 to 5 per cent coverage. Both assessments were conducted by the same consultancy.
If all of the gorgonian corals were to be rescued through translocation, the scale would be the largest ever in Hong Kong history. To put things into perspective, only about 90 gorgonian colonies were translocated prior to the building of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge.
Despite the new findings, the Airport Authority will only translocate less than 5 per cent of the gorgonian corals – about 300 coral colonies – found in the latest study. None of the 3,300 affected coral colonies inside the marine park of Sha Chau will be saved.
WWF questions the reliability of the marine ecological assessments conducted in the EIA. We call on the Airport Authority to immediately halt the Third Runway Construction and re-assess the impact of the development on corals, and urge that priority should be given to conserve the corals if high coverage is found since translocation is insufficient to mitigate the impact.
WWF also fears that moving such a large number of corals from within the immediate footprint of the Third Runway to Yam Tsai Wan will impact the community structure of sea life at the latter site. WWF urges the Airport Authority to provide details on the composition of marine species at Yam Tsai Wan and the impact of the translocation.
WWF endeavors to halt environmental degradation and create harmony between people and nature and is against the approach of “develop first, conserve later”. We have been advocating for a dolphin management plan and the designation of 10 per cent of Hong Kong waters (including West Lantau) as marine protected areas. We will soon launch the marine ecological hotspot map which identifies areas housing representative, rare or threatened species and habitats that merit conservation and scientific research.