Responding to the Chief Executive’s 2024 Policy Address

Posted on 16 October 2024

Responding to the Chief Executive’s Policy Address
Today, WWF-Hong Kong (WWF) provides a mixed response to the Chief Executive's Policy Address. While acknowledging some positive moves taken by the government, WWF believes that these actions are insufficient to lead Hong Kong towards becoming a nature-positive city. WWF appreciates a basket of measures from the government on greening maritime and aviation sectors; however, WWF expresses concern about the policy address in absence of any mention regarding the progress of the Strategic Feasibility Study on the Development of Wetland Conservation Parks System. This Study, expected to be announced in the mid-2024, holds significant importance not only for the management of the Mai Po Nature Reserve, but also for the ecosystem health of the internationally important Deep Bay wetlands.

WWF would like to make the following recommendations for the 2024 Policy Address :

Integrate conservation into development
It is emphasised in the Policy Address that the Northern Metropolis “is a new engine for Hong Kong’s future growth”. While we understand that development is important for economic growth, job creation and housing provision, we reiterate the project must not be pursued at the expense of the ecology of Deep Bay Wetlands, which are of high global conservation value. WWF strongly recommends the government to design the Northern Metropolis, including San Tin/Lok Ma Chau Development Node, into the first International Wetland City in the Greater Bay Area. Introduced by the Convention on Wetlands in 2015, the Wetland City Accreditation Scheme has certified 43 cities around the world, commending their efforts to proactively protect, manage and restore wetlands wisely in and around urban centres.

Implementing marine ecosystem valuation for policy decisions
WWF reiterates that the ecosystem services provided by Hong Kong’s marine waters are invaluable, significantly contributing to the economy, biodiversity, and the overall well-being of our society and citizens. WWF calls for the government to adopt a standardised framework to quantify and assess marine ecosystem services of our ocean to better inform decision-making process, especially via ecosystem-based Marine Spatial Planning and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process. The valuation system of “Gross Ecosystem Products” recently developed by China provides a systematic guiding framework for such evaluations. Until a robust framework is established to adequately describe the socioeconomic importance of these hitherto unaccounted services and facilitate Marine Spatial Planning, all major reclamation projects, including the Kau Yi Chau Artificial Island proposal, should not go ahead.

Eco-tourism opportunities at South Lantau, Tsim Bei Tsui and Pak Nai and Yan Chau Tong Marine Park
South Lantau, Tsim Bei Tsui and Pak Nai and the Yan Chau Tong Marine Park all contain valuable wilderness areas rich in both landscape and biodiversity values. These areas support a wide range of globally important species such as numerous migratory birds, seagrass beds and the globally endangered Chinese Horseshoe Crab (Tachypleus tridentatus). These natural assets also provide many ecosystem services to the human population and have high recreation value that may attract thousands of tourists to visit the areas. In order to minimise the impacts on the natural assets by recreational development, the Government must develop holistic ecotourism plans for these areas to ensure the natural resources, landscape features and wildlife habitats are not compromised by tourism activities and infrastructure.

Establish a conservation trust to synergise conservation and development
Existing conservation measures are inadequate in balancing conservation needs of the society and development interests of landowners, leading to the deterioration of ecological values for many wetlands, particularly in the Deep Bay area. A win-win mechanism, in the form of a conservation trust, is required to safeguard and finance the long-term conservation management of ecologically important private lands. An independent conservation trust through Public-Private partnership that allows development of areas of low ecological value, while creating conservation easements to permanently forfeit development rights of ecologically sensitive areas, could provide a pragmatic solution to proactively protect and manage ecologically important private land with sustainable funding. Such mechanism would ensure that the development interests of the landowners are respected while privately-owned ecological hotspots can be effectively conserved.

Greener Transition for Aviation and Shipping
Consumption target on sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) demonstrates our ambition as part of the transition and meeting the needs of the sector. It is expected that the target should have a clear pathway on progression from time to time, allowing stakeholders along the value chain to have projectable supply and demand of fuel for their planning, investment, and execution. If voluntary or grace period was to be applied, the timeline should be clear and fair to all stakeholders.

Further to the metric on absolute consumption volume, the uptake of low-carbon fuel should prevail across all airlines with flights departing from Hong Kong. This measure ensures no one is left behind with joint efforts towards the target and greener transition of the sector.

In the area of long-term plan for industry development and bunkering of green maritime fuel, local blending and smart technology should be part of the plan, these elements are crucial in ensuring uptake of fuel could be maintained with diversified sources and competitive cost in a fair and just manner. The plan should also include and support local green fuel producers as part of the development scope. WWF believes these components are crucial to Hong Kong as an international hub of aviation and shipping, as well as supporting the local economy.

Tackling illegal wildlife trade using technology
I&T continues to be a priority area of the Policy Address, reflecting the government's strategic vision of harnessing the power of technology to enhance Hong Kong's long-term competitiveness. In addition to being an international financial, shipping, and trade centre, Hong Kong is also a major hub for illicit trade of wildlife products. The government should keep encouraging the private sector to report suspicious transactions related to environmental crimes. The financial sector and relevant government agencies should increase reporting and investigations and make use of the enhanced powers provided by the amended Organized and Serious Crimes Ordinance (OSCO).

WWF welcomes proposed new policies and investments in human resources and start-ups in the I&T space. WWF aims to connect the expertise of academia, the innovation of the private sector, the foresight of policymakers, and the grassroots engagement of civil society through the use of Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and Machine Learning-enabled innovations in detecting Illegal Wildlife Trade in the financial and maritime supply chain. The government should be persistent in implementing long-term strategies, such as encouraging public and private sectors to develop I&T enabled risk mitigation and detection tools that identify illegally traded products in the supply chain, and develop further incentives for the use of I&T.

Please refer to details of WWF’s Policy Address recommendations here.

Policy Address 2024 Recommendations

Download

Policy Address 2024 Recommendations

PDF

173 KB

Responding to the Chief Executive’s 2024 Policy Address

Share This!