Executive Summary of Environmental Baseline Report

The approach adopted is based upon the concept of natural capital stock which is critical to the concept of sustainable development. The term 'capital' can be defined broadly as a stock of something which yields a flow of useful goods or services (Costanza et al 1997), and definitions of sustainability often refer to the need for societies to live off from that flow or 'income', rather than eroding the capital resource base which provides that income.

Natural capital stock concept is particularly important since it acknowledges both resource inputs (or 'source') functions and waste assimilation (or 'sink') functions. This approach has been adopted due to its multi-functional role and relevance to an environmental 'baseline' and because of its relationship with other aspects of sustainable development including human, social and economic development.

The following sections of this Executive Summary present the key findings of the baseline report for each of the key groups of natural capital resources (natural resources, ecological resources, assimilative capacity and heritage resources). In each section a discussion of the principal issues and pressures for the element of capital stock is presented, followed by a short appraisal of the implications of the trends and impacts on the resource for sustainable development in Hong Kong.