Press
Release
Environment
Hong Kong 2005 published
|
| With
a theme of "A Shared Responsibility for a Sustainable Future",
Environment
Hong Kong 2005 is now available for sale at the online
Government Bookstore. |
The Environmental
Protection Department (EPD) today (June 5) published its latest
annual report entitled "Environment
Hong Kong 2005". With a theme of "A Shared Responsibility for
a Sustainable Future", the annual report emphasises the importance
of shared responsibility to achieve a clean environment and give
an account of progress made in improving the environment in 2004
and the challenges ahead.
In the "Foreword",
the Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works, Dr Sarah
Liao, said good progress had been made in waste management during
2004 by enacting the ordinance on the construction waste disposal
charging scheme and launching a pilot scheme of source separation
of household waste.
"We also succeeded in arresting the growth of municipal solid waste
disposal of in landfills for five consecutive years since 2000,
reversing the trend of 3.5 per cent annual growth before 2000,"
Dr Liao said.
On air quality management, she said that the Guangdong and the Hong
Kong governments were now pressing ahead to implement the enhanced
pollution control measures to achieve the agreed emission reduction
targets of the four major regional air pollutants by year 2010.
"We have also set up a regional air quality monitoring network which
will start operation in 2005," she added.
Locally, she noted that nearly all taxis were now fuelled by liquefied
petroleum gas (LPG) while about 80 per cent of the newly registered
public light buses were LPG ones.
"We completed the catalyst retrofit programme for older heavy diesel
vehicles in 2004 and the installation of emission reduction devices
for heavy diesel vehicles will become mandatory in 2005," she said.
As compared with 1999, the concentrations of particulates and nitrogen
oxides at the roadside had dropped by 9 per cent and 24 per cent
respectively in 2004.
Turning to water quality, Dr Liao said with the general support
from the public, the Government would implement the second and the
final stages of the Harbour Area Treatment Scheme in phases with
a view to treating all sewage from both sides of the harbour by
2013.
On conservation, Dr Liao said a new nature conservation policy with
an implementation plan was promulgated in November 2004.
The new policy aims to better achieve the nature conservation objectives,
in particular to enhance the conservation of ecologically important
sites that are in private ownership.
"As part of the new policy, we are going to launch a pilot scheme
for the new nature conservation measures to enhance conservation
of the priority sites," she said.
The Permanent Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works
(Environment), Mr Kwok Ka-keung, who also took up the duties of
the Director of Environmental Protection after the merger of the
Environment Branch (EB) and the EPD, highlighted in his message
the major achievements in tackling air and water pollution and the
waste problem in 2004 as well as the way forward.
"Building on the strong foundation of past efforts, 2005 will be
a year of action," Mr Kwok said.
The EPD in its new incarnation combining the responsibilities and
resources of a policy bureau and a department would be well-placed
to rise to the challenges to the environment, he said.
"The merger of the EB of the Environment, Transports and Works Bureau
and the EPD will provide dynamism and vigour for us to pursue the
ambitious programme with confidence and determination," he added.
The EPD Annual Report also gives an account of co-operation with
regional and international organisations on protecting the environment.
The full-colour report is printed with environmentally friendly
ink on recycled paper, covering areas including community awareness,
customer service and partnerships, environmental assessment and
planning, air, noise, waste, water, and environmental compliance.
A pamphlet is also published to give the public a quick grasp of
the progress made to protect the environment last year. Companion
resource materials for the annual report, in CD-ROM form, summarise
the progress made in 2004 with detailed figures, tables and charts.
The Chinese and English versions of the annual report, each with
a bilingual CD-ROM attached, are now on sale at $100 each. The bilingual
CD-ROM is also available for sale at $8 each. Orders can be placed
at the Government Bookstore on the Internet at http://bookstore.esdlife.com.
The annual report and the CD-ROM can also be ordered from the Publications
Sales Section of the Information Services Department (ISD) at 2537
1910 (tel) and 2523 7195 (fax), or by downloading the order form
from the ISD website at http://isd.gov.hk,
or by email to puborder@isd.gov.hk.
The annual report, the companion resource materials and the pamphlet,
are also available on the EPD website at http://www.epd.gov.hk.
Ends/Sunday, June 5, 2005
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