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Press Release
Environment Hong Kong 2007 report published
"The state of our environment depends on the future we envision today" is the message from Secretary for the Environment Mr Edward Yau, in the annual report, "Environment Hong Kong 2007", published by the Environmental Protection Department today (September 18).
The annual report, which reviews trends and events in environmental issues and reports on the work of the department during the year, also sets out plans for the coming year.
"Environmental protection is a major policy area for the third term of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government," Mr Yau said. "Our approach in addressing environmental issues is to set clear targets and milestones, taking into consideration the need to strike a balance between protecting the environment and sustaining economic and social development, while harnessing technological advancement and economic incentives to accelerate their attainment."
"We are committed to providing a high quality living environment to the public by reducing pollution, promoting energy efficiency, strengthening further regional co-operation and encouraging public engagement in environmental protection efforts," Mr Yau said.
"We also strive to adopt the polluter pays principle to require polluters to bear the social costs and to encourage people to pollute less."
Maintaining that improvement of the environment required collective efforts of society, Mr Yau emphasised the importance of a change in everyone’s lifestyle and daily habits.
"We will continue to seek to raise public awareness of and nurture a lifestyle that treasures the conservation of resources through promotion of community participation and education," he said.
Sharing these views, the Permanent Secretary for the Environment and Director of Environmental Protection, Ms Anissa Wong, said that perhaps the biggest change had been in people's attitudes towards the environment. "People care more than ever about the state of Hong Kong's environment, which has enabled the department to gain acceptance for programmes that, a decade ago, would have been rejected outright."
Ms Wong said that rational debate of policy initiatives on the environmental front, such as the polluter pays principle, was a sign that the community recognised the urgency in tackling pollution problems and its responsibility in addressing them.
The report also gives an account of the department’s decade of achievements, such as the joint efforts of the Guangdong administration on air quality improvement, which resulted in a reduction of locally generated emissions by 15% to 36%. Waste management had also been improved through the investment of $10 billion in infrastructure for proper waste disposal. The completion of Stage 1 of the Harbour Area Treatment Scheme (HATS) also resulted in vastly cleaner water in the eastern and central parts of the harbour.
Ms Wong said the department was committed and determined to its environmental protection mission over the next 10 years.
"More than $8 billion will be invested to improve sewerage infrastructure, additional waste treatment facilities and reduction programmes and an air programme that aimed to achieve further reductions in pollution beyond 2010," she said.
Ms Wong agreed these were no easy tasks, but said that given the public's greater willingness to see Government money spent on the environment, and to accept their own responsibilities for sustainable management of the environment, there was good reason to be optimistic that goals would be achieved.
The report, which is available in electronic format, can be obtained from the EPD website at http://www.epd.gov.hk or a CD-ROM at the Government Bookstores or the Information Services Department (ISD) at $6 each. Orders of the CD-ROM can be placed via the internet at http://www.gov.hk/en/apps/isdbookstore.htm or by returning the order form downloaded from the ISD website at http://isd.gov.hk, at fax 2523 7195 or email puborder@isd.gov.hk. You may call 2537 1910 for order enquiries.
END/Tuesday, September 18, 2007
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