Hong Kong's terrestrial habitats consist of a wide variety of ecological communities including vegetated upland areas (eg various types of forests, shrublands and grasslands); inland aquatic areas (eg wetlands, ponds and inland watercourses); and coastal fringing areas (eg mangroves, seagrass beds, intertidal mudflats, and rocky and sandy shores). These habitats host a surprisingly diverse array of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, fishes, invertebrates and plants. Each of these habitats and species groups is discussed below.

Under the SUSDEV 21 Study's baseline survey of terrestrial habitats, the entire land area of Hong Kong has been mapped into one of 25 categories of habitat/land cover and assigned an ecological value of high, medium, low or negligible. Each of the 25 categories was initially assigned a default ecological value based on the general quality of habitat in that category (eg, fung shui forests and wetlands had a default value of high, whereas quarries had a default value of low and landfills had a default value of negligible).

A total of 140 field survey days were then used to verify the habitat value of as many sites as possible within each habitat/land cover category, and where appropriate, to adjust the ecological value of each site either upward or downward. The results of this mapping exercise, specifically the area of high ecological value habitats in Hong Kong calculated from the final map, will support the indicator on terrestrial area of Hong Kong of high ecological value (ERM 1998b, 1998c and ERM 1999b).

Results from the habitat mapping study provide the area and percent cover for each of the 25 habitat/land cover categories (see Table 4.2a). These figures are based on satellite imagery and aerial photograph sources, the results of the field surveys and other relevant information. A detailed description of the habitat mapping and conservation ranking study is provided in the final baseline study report (ERM 2000a). Further details on the ecological natural capital stock value of the various terrestrial habitats is provided below, followed by a discussion of species groups and their status in Hong Kong.

Notes:Areas shown are to the nearest hectare. Percentages to the nearest 0.1%.

All rocky shores and artificial rocky/hard shorelines, and the majority of sandy shores were mapped and represented as a linear component on the habitat map. Those sandy shores (beaches) which have widths greater than 20 m were mapped as polygons (spatial in nature).

a: The habitat (or majority of it) was mapped as a linear component, the "area" is represented by the length (km) of the habitat. "Percent cover" was calculated based on the length of the habitat relative to the total length of the three linear habitats (ie Rocky Shore, Artificial Rock/Hard Shoreline and Sandy Shore).