WWF’s Recommendations for the 2016 Policy Address – Transform Hong Kong into Asia’s most sustainable city

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Introduction

WWF's vision is to transform Hong Kong into Asia's most sustainable city, where nature is conserved, carbon pollution is reduced and consumption is environmentally responsible. This is a significant challenge, we are grateful to see the Chief Executivehas several progress on his work in his third year : an Energy saving blueprint has been released in May 2015 which unveiled the first-ever energy saving blueprint for Hong Kong. The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) also reaffirm to designate the Southwest Lantau Marine Park and Soko Islands Marine Park by early 2017, to protect the marine ecology particularly the Chinese White Dolphin.

However, that‟s not enough to tackle the challenge that‟s our environment are facing. Globally, climate change has been the toughest and most pressing challenge; in Hong Kong, lot of unique and valuable land scape and species are threatened by all kind of development. A pro-active policy vision and framework is therefore needed to address cumulative and strategic environmental impacts across multiple development projects.

The United Nation has adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in July 20151. This universal agenda through which all 193 countries pledge to deliver the 17 goals and 169 targets that integrate the environmental and developmental dimensions in a balanced way, especially it highlighted the urgency to push the Global South to implement and treat environmental challenges seriously. Hong Kong, as an Asian‟s World city, has its obligation to fulfill its global responsibility to the UN resolution by leading Hong Kong into a sustainable city.

This is the 3rd recommendation for the Policy Address WWF has presented to the Chief

Executive, Mr. CY Leung. WWF believes that striking a balance between development and

conservation policies is crucial to transform Hong Kong into a sustainable city. We hope the

Chief Executive will deliver a win-win situation for all in his 2016 Policy Address, without

neglecting or missing opportunities to conserve our environment and tackle unsustainable

consumption.

1 “Consensus reached on new substainable Development Agenda to be adopted by World leaders in September “ UN,2015

http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2015/08/transforming-our-world-document-adoption/

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SUMMARY 1. Secure the future of Hong Kong‟s biodiversity and promote sustainable use by adopting and implementing the Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (BSAP). The key actions should include:

a. Establish an effective marine protected area network covering at least 10% of Hong Kong waters

b. Develop species management plans which ensure cross-departmental cooperation to protect Hong Kong‟s seriously threatened species, such as the Chinese white dolphin

c. Expand and enhance protection for Deep Bay wetlands including Mai Po nature reserve and the Ramsar site by formulating a holistic plan, setting up a Steering Committee and establishing a Wetland Trust d. Enhance the country park system by incorporating under-represented important habitats and by maintaining their ecological connectivity

e. Formulate an official List of Threatened Species for Hong Kong using standardized criteria by 2017

2. The two power companies should adopt a feed in tariff for distributed generation in the upcoming 2018 Scheme of Control Agreements. A mandatory and progressive target for renewable electricity production and an aggressive energy saving target should be set for the new term of SCA to minimize energy consumption and negate the need to build additional gas-fired generation units.

3. Government to phase out the commercial processing and sales of ivory, based on a firm plan and timeline.

4. The numerous planned marine works in the western waters continue to cause major impact to the marine ecology, especially the Chinese white dolphins. Immediate action must be taken to save the Chinese white dolphins, with marine protected areas extended to cover the waters of west Lantau, including Tai O and Yi O, before the commencement of any reclamation work at Hong Kong International Airport.

5. Government to take initiative to analyze land use in Hong Kong, focusing on brownfield and vacant land and formulate development plans to meet society housing and other needs without threatening sites of ecological and conservation importance.

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6. An absolute greenhouse gas reduction targets should be adopted for 2030 and 2050. Hong Kong government should conduct a feasibility research in next financial year, to forecast the potential of generating electricity by roof top solar PV, and formulate a roadmap for renewable energy development in Hong Kong.

7. Government to investigate and monitor the distribution of marine litter, with a specific focus on the underwater environment. The number of sites where government actively cleans up foreshores, and frequency of clean up should be increased. Lastly, government should formulate effective cleanup strategies to stop marine litter at its source such as through by increasing enforcement efforts, promoting green industry and enhancing the producer responsibility scheme.

8. A holistic plan should be developed and adopted for Lantau Island in order to enhance the ecological, recreational and cultural value in South Lantau. Government should also ensure the ecological impacts from the urban expansion in North Lantau are minimized, with no incursions into the Country Park. 9.Government should measure and announce Hong Kong‟s Ecological Footprint on a regular basis, start by looking into the sustainabel use of natural resources, thenimplement measures to reduce the city‟s unsustainable natural resource use. 10. Increase the positive impact of its new internal dining policy by reviewing it regularly and include more unsustainable seafood, as highlighted as “Red – Avoid” category in WWF-Hong Kong Seafood Guide into the policy, in particular the Humphead wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus), high-finned grouper (Cromileptes altivelis) and the Hong Kong grouper (Epinephelus akaara). The Government should also become more proactive in raising awareness of sustainable seafood to the community of Hong Kong.

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WWF would like to present recommendations for the 2016 policy address:

1. Secure the future of Hong Kong’s biodiversity and promote sustainable use by adopting and implementing a Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan. The key actions should include:

a. Establish an effective marine protected area network covering at least 10% of Hong Kong waters

Marine conservation has been identified as a top priority in BSAP. Hong Kong has many precious marine habitats and vibrant marine life but only 1.5% of Hong Kong waters are protected versus around 40% of land areas is within Country Parks. According to the CBD Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, Aichi Biodiversity Target 11, at least 10 % of coastal and marine areas should be conserved through well managed and connected protected areas system.

WWF urges Hong Kong government to formulate an action plan to establish and manage a comprehensive network of Marine Protected Areas, covering at least 10% of Hong Kong waters, to provide a safety net for representative habitats and all threatened species so as to help restore our marine environment and fisheries resources.

b. Create species management plans which ensure cross-departmental cooperation to protect Hong Kong‟s seriously threatened species

A number of iconic and/or globally important wildlife species (such as Chinese white dolphin, Chinese pangolin, golden coin turtle, big-headed turtle, Beale‟s turtle) in Hong Kong have suffered from serious decline in recent years due to various human induced threats. To ensure they can continue to survive in Hong Kong, expert groups are to be formed to prepare species action plans with clear conservation objectives and targets and to oversee their implementation.

c. Expand and enhance protection for Deep Bay wetlands including Mai Po nature reserve and the Ramsar site by formulating a holistic plan, setting up a Steering Committee and establishing a Wetland Trust. The conservation value of many wetlands depends on their management and there has been worrying trends in the Deep Bay wetlands. Development pressure from private developers owning large areas of fish ponds continues. Many fish ponds have shifted from traditional farming to intensive fish culture that involves concreting the mud bunds, putting plastic sheets

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on bunds and adopting measures to prevent water birds from foraging in the ponds, thereby undermining their ecological value. There are growing numbers of actively managed conservation sites in the Deep Bay wetland ecosystem but they are operated independently without much coordination. A Deep Bay Steering Committee should be set up to formulate a holistic plan of wetland conservation and management for Deep Bay and to improve participation of the stakeholders. A statutory Wetland Trust should also be established into which land from public-private-partnership (PPP) projects can be vested and funds donated to manage these sites.

Besides, the Government should also ensure adequate resources are provided for the effective conservation and management of the Mai Po and Inner Deep Bay Ramsar site to maintain and enhance its ecological value and promote wise use of wetlands.

d. Enhance the country park system by incorporating under-represented important habitats and by maintaining their ecological connectivity.

The country park system plays a critical role in safeguarding Hong Kong‟s important and exceptionally rich terrestrial biodiversity. However, lowland rivers, marshes and feng shui woods are under-represented in country parks and they are facing increasing threats from developments and degradations. Therefore the country park system needs to be strengthened and enhanced by incorporating these important habitats, many of them in enclaves, into country parks.

e. Formulate an official List of Threatened Species for Hong Kong using standardized criteria by 2017

The conservation status of wildlife species in Hong Kong should be assessed and reviewed by experts using the IUCN Red List criteria, an internationally recognized and well-tested system to generate an official List of Threatened Species. This List will be credible because most up-to-date information available will be used, the process is transparent and follow international best practice, experts are involved in both the assessment and review, and, the supporting information is documented and accessible. The List of Threatened Species will help guide specific conservation actions so that resources can be allocated to those species which are most in need.

2. A feed in tariff for distributed generation should be adopted in the upcoming 2018 Scheme of Control Agreements, the new term of SCA should also include a mandatory and progressive target for renewable electricity production and energy saving target

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i) Introduce feed-in Tariff in the new terms of SCA

The city‟s electricity generation relies heavily on fossil fuels, which contributes to 60% of our carbon emission. Every kilowatt-hour of electricity generated from renewable energies plays an important role in freeing us from the conflicts over dwindling resources, reduces the major negative consequences of sourcing and using coal, natural gas and grid purchase, protects the climate and reduces the risks presented by nuclear energy. Experience in other countries also shows that distributed generation can accelerate the

deployment of wind energy (offshore and onshore) and solar energy (photovoltaic (PV) and

solar thermal, when coupled with long-term enabling policies. Renewable energy policies,

namely feed-in tariffs have been adopted by at least 69 countries2. These policies successfully

attract private sectors and individuals to invest in renewable energy, which boost the

production of renewable electricity.

Government should introduce feed-in Tariff for the new term of Scheme of Control Agreement

(SCA) with the two power companies, with a mandatory and progressive target for renewable

electricity Enabling policies should be devised for distributed generation of RE for the new term

of SCA with the two power companies as well.

ii) Setting energy saving target in the new terms of SCA

Energy conservation is one of the prerequisites of a future fully powered by renewables. According to WWF‟s Energy Report (2011)3, aggressive demand-side management will be able to reduce global energy demand by 50% by 2050. WWF believes that the Government should demonstrate much stronger policy determination to decrease the city‟s overall energy needs through the setting of an aggregate absolute energy reduction target.

Government should add a peak load demand control target in the new terms of SCA, an ambitious energy saving target of 1% to 2% per year & a „peak demand control‟ target should be included to ensure the needs for new generation plant are reduced. Such a target will also provide a way to control the expansion of the power utilities‟ fixed assets. This will help reduce a potential tariff increase from fixed asset expansion and allow the public to share the benefits of energy saving.

2 REN21 (2014 ) Renewables 2014: Global Status Report. Available at:

http://www.ren21.net/Portals/0/documents/Resources/GSR/2014/GSR2014_full%20report_low%20res.pdf

3 WWF (2011) The Energy Report: 100% Renewable Energy by 2050. Available at:

http://awsassets.panda.org/downloads/the_energy_report_lowres_111110.pdf

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3. Government to phase out the commercial processing and sales of ivory, based on a firm plan and timeline.

In recent years, illegal wildlife trade has exploded globally to meet the increasing demand for

animal products. Over 30,000 elephants are poached every year, primarily to meet the

demand for ivory products in Asia, particularly for China and Thailand, and Hong Kong, a

major transit hub as well as one of the world‟s largest retail markets.There are many gaps in

the current regulatory system which perpetuates the illegal ivory trade :

1) Local law enforcement has limited capacity and resources to inspect wildlife products at the

international ports of entry, including air and sea freights, hence providing a platform for illegal

ivory to be imported, transited or re-exported from Hong Kong.

2) The current regulatory and licensing system lacks transparency, including the absence of

specific information (such as photographs or DNA testing) linking specific licenses to the ivory

stockpiles, and the lack of scrutiny on license holders and their stockpiles.

3) In spite of the fact that it is illegal to export ivory to mainland China without a valid permit,

yet there are no checks by local ivory traders to ensure that their customers are residents of

Hong Kong rather than tourists, nor are there any regulations to ensure tourists have fulfilled

their customs duty by obtaining an export permit before completing a transaction.

Much stronger enforcement and governance are urgently needed to tighten regulation and

enforcement. In a long way, WWF strongly encourage Government to phase out the

commercial processing and sales of ivory, based on a firm plan and short timeline.

4. Marine protected areas extended to cover the waters of west Lantau , including Tai O and Yi O before the commencement of any reclamation work at Hong Kong International Airport

The population of CWDs in Hong Kong has declined by a shocking 60 per cent in last decade. Since the mid-90s, over 2,000 hectares of sea area have been reclaimed in Hong Kong‟s western waters. This is within the relatively small area inhabited by the dolphins. In addition to a direct loss of the dolphin‟s habitats, reclamation has affected fishery resources, which subsequently leads to a decrease in food supply for the dolphins. Additional threats include past, present and future works on dredging, dumping, and facilities installation. As well, the impacts from water and noise pollution, and an increase in vessel traffic, play a role in destroying the habitat.

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The purpose of setting up a marine protected area is to conserve the marine environment and provide a sanctuary for the marine species to inhabit, with human disturbance being kept to a minimum (e.g. development-free, vessel speed restriction, regulated human activities). However, the establishment of a Marine Park in Hong Kong has recently been used as a compensation measure for large-scale development project after the construction works have been completed. In 2000, the Hong Kong government promised to designate Southwest Lantau as a Marine Park for the long-term protection of Chinese white dolphins (CWDs). However, for more than a decade, the Park was still not being established not until September 2014; the government finally made a declaration and reaffirmed that the Southwest Lantau Marine Park will be designated by early 2017. WWF believes that in order to protect the only prime dolphin habitat left in the Hong Kong waters, as well as maximize the conservation function of the marine protected areas, a Marine Park covering the still-unprotected core dolphin areas in west Lantau should be designated before the commencement of the third runways reclamation works. In addition, no-take zones (at Tai O and SW Lantau) shall be established with fishing activities completely banned, so as to facilitate the recovery of fisheries resources and safeguard the dolphins from human threats and future development.

5. Government to take initiative to analyze land use in Hong Kong, focusing on brownfield and formulate development plan to meet society housing and other needs without threating sites of ecological and conservation importance.

Whether there‟s a lack of land for housing and other social needs (hospital, school, community centre etc.) has been a controversial debate in Hong Kong in recent years. Research conducted by local think tank revealed the fact that there are 803.2 ha4 of “brownfields” in western N.T., the rich “reserve” of brownfield should be seriously considered by the government for urban development. 5The Secretary for Development made a statement in Legislative Council that the government will conduct comprehensive planning and engineering studies to examine whether "brownfield sites" is suitable for development, however he also admitted that there‟s “no clear and standard definition” of brownfield, therefore “Government has not consolidated the overall amount and the distribution of "brownfield sites" in the territory“.

4 “Study on Brownfields in New Territorities and Strategies for Land development ” (新界棕土研究與土地發展方略), The

Professional Commons 8/3/2012, http://www.procommons.org.hk/brownfield 5 LCQ2 : “ Brownfield sites in Hong Kong” , http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/201311/06/P201311060448.htm

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Holistic town planning and smart land policy can help to maintain balance between conservation, social needs including green space and urban development, we urge the government to clearly adopt “brownfield first” as the key urban planning and development strategy, instead of rezoning green belts with significant ecological value or even country parks. The ambiguity of brownfield information is an obstacle to revitalize brownfield, Government should take initiative to analyze land use in Hong Kong, focusing on brownfield, vacant land and under-use industrial areas, and, formulate development plan to meet society housing and other needs without threatening conservation or undermining the quality of life of the residents. In addition, government should identify areas of high ecological value which should be “development free” and given proper protection as the incorporation into the Country Park System.

6. An absolute greenhouse gas reduction targets should be adopted for 2030 and 2050. Hong Kong government should conduct a feasibility research in next financial year, to forecast the potential of roof top solar PV by the most up-to-dated technology, and formulate a roadmap for renewable energy development in Hong Kong.

i. Absolute GHG gas reduction target

WWF is pleased to see in the “Energy saving Plan For Hong Kong‟s Built Environment 2015 ~ 2025 +” that Government committed to achieve energy intensity reduction by 40% by 2025 using 2005 as the base. However, the target doesn‟t utilize the full potential of energy saving. The plan is still waiting for more inputs to map out the roadmap and timetable for green building development. Therefore, it is clear that more measures can be adopted to achieve a higher energy saving impact.

The Government should focus on achieving the most ambitious end of the target range consistent with climate science and with concrete action plans. Meanwhile, we need an ambitious absolute reduction target for 2030 and 2050 to guide our energy saving roadmap for a sustainable future.

ii. A roadmap for renewable energy development

Experience in other countries also shows that distributed generation can accelerate the deployment of wind energy (offshore and onshore) and solar energy (photovoltaic (PV) and solar thermal, when coupled with long-term enabling policies.

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Different city governments are generating „Solar Map‟ to map out the solar potential for every building, e.g New York6, LA7 and Seoul8. „Solar Map‟ is a combination of Digital Elevation Model and Solar Radiation Model to calculate the solar potential of each building in a city with the accuracy up to 1m X 1m area. With the mature technology available, HKSAR shall carry out the same study as soon as possible. It can map out the accurate potential of solar power in Hong Kong, which can facilitate the formulation of the roadmap for renewable energy development. The Solar Map is a user-friendly web tool to reduce the cost for individual rooftop owner because it can help assessing the solar potential before everyone invest in solar panel installation. 7. Government to investigate and monitor the distribution of marine litter, with a specific focus on seabed litter, and increase the number of sites where government actively cleans up foreshores. Besides, a more effective cleanup strategy need to be formulated and stop marine litter at its source by increase enforcement intensity.

Marine litter problem has been a persisting environmental issue in Hong Kong for decades. They appear along the shoreline, float on water surface and also sink to the seabed, which affect our marine ecology in all dimensions. However, the problem has been widely overlooked in the past. The government has started to take more effort on it since the plastic pellet spill in 2012, but the effectiveness is still not adequate. The problem should be tackled with more pro-active strategies:

i. Besides the 27 identified priority sites9, the government should step up efforts to inspect

other remote coastal areas to review the seriousness of the marine litter problem and

re-allocate resources to clean up the coastal environment including the remote areas.

ii. Expand the focus of the government‟s Working Group on Clean Shorelines to

investigate the distribution of seabed litter and formulate practical strategies in removing

the underwater marine refuse.

6 http://www.nycsolarmap.com/

7 http://solarmap.lacounty.gov/#

8 http://solarmap.seoul.go.kr/index.do

9 “Investigation on the Sources and Fates of Marine Refuse in Hong Kong”, Environmental Protection Department,

April 2015, http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/clean_shorelines/sites/default/files/common2015/MarineRefuseStudyReport_ENG_Final.pdf

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iii. In order to deter the illegal garbage disposal activities, law enforcement departments

including Marine Department, AFCD, Food and Environmental Hygiene Department,

and Leisure and Cultural Services Department should conduct more investigations to

identify marine littering black spots at their respective responsible coastal areas in

different seasons, and allocate more resources to increase enforcement intensity at

those areas so as to keep our shorelines clean.

iv. Promote green industry and enhance the implementation of producer responsibility

scheme to increase the effectiveness of reduction of waste generation at source by

encouraging manufacturers to design products using greener materials and reduce

waste generated in their products, and engaging the public to do waste reduction,

collection using buy-back mechanism, and recycling in order to prevent them from

entering the marine environment.

8. A holistic plan to be adopted for Lantau that will enhance the ecological, recreational and cultural value in South Lantau. Government should also ensure the ecological impacts from the urban expansion in North Lantau are minimized Lantau is the largest offshore island in Hong Kong and remains largely natural and rural and also has many historical, cultural and religious features. The island and its surrounding waters are very important for biodiversity conservation and are popular destinations for nature recreation activities. The existing ecological, social, recreational, cultural, religious and historical value should not be compromised by any future urbanisation. To achieve this, a holistic plan should be adopted for Lantau in which sites of high conservation, landscape and cultural value are identified and protected. The planning intention, i.e. for conservation and recreation, should be maintained for the southern part of the island. While ecological impacts from urban expansion in North Lantau should be minimized.

9.Government should measure and announce Hong Kong’s Ecological Footprint on a regular basis, start by looking into the sustainable use of natural resources, then implement measures to reduce the city’s unsustainable natural resource use. The Ecological Footprint, in brief, measures how much natural resources we use on an annual basis. Ecological Footprint of Hong Kong has been increasing since the 1960s and reaches record high in history in recent years. Per capita Ecological Footprint of Hong Kong ranks 15th out of the about 150 countries and territories. If everyone on Earth led the lifestyle of Hong

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Kong, humanity would need 3.1 Earths. The ecological deficit of Hong Kong is the largest in Asia – if Hong Kong were to live by its own natural resources, we would need 540 Hong Kong. Hong Kong is clearly moving towards unsustainable development10. Globally as many as 57 nations have engaged at different levels in working on Ecological Footprint at a government level. A number of them including Japan, Switzerland, UAE, Ecuador, Finland, Scotland, Wales and the Philippines have formally and nationally adopted Ecological Footprint in their governmental planning11. Vancouver City has announced to aim to become the greenest city by 2020, with an specific time-bound objective to reduce its own Ecological Footprint12. We urge the HK Government to take on the role to measure the use of natural resources through the calculation of Ecological Footprint, reporting on this publicly and regularly, start by looking into the sustainable use of natural resources, and then address areas of major ecological burden to reduce such footprint in long term. Government also needs to establish strategy and actions to reduce HK‟s Ecological Footprint to a more sustainable level, starting with areas of greatest ecological burden. 10. Increase the positive impact of its new internal dining policy by reviewing it regularly and include more unsustainable seafood, as highlighted as “Red – Avoid” category in WWF-Hong Kong Seafood Guide into the policy, in particular the Humphead wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus), high-finned grouper (Cromileptes altivelis) and the Hong Kong grouper (Epinephelus akaara). The Government should also become more proactive in raising awareness of sustainable seafood to the community of Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong Government has in 2013 taken the lead to issue an internal ban on the consumption of unsustainable seafood such as blue fin tuna and shark fin in their official dining. The Government was seen as the role model for society in this front and has exerted a positive influence on the dining practice of a lot of public organizations and their staff in Hong Kong.

WWF strongly recommends the Government to forge ahead and include more unsustainable seafood as highlighted as “Red – Avoid” category in WWF-Hong Kong Seafood Guide, particularly those live reef food fish, into the dining policy. In particular:

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“WWF.2014.Living Planet Report 2014:species and spaces, people and places”, McLellan,R.,Iyengar, L., Jeffries B.and N.Oerlemans (Eds) , 2014, WWF, Gland, Switzerland. 11

Final Report of the Sustainable Use, Ecological Footprint and Ecosystem Services Focus Group. Submitted to Awareness,Mainstreaming and Sustainablity Working Group of the biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (BSAP) 12

http://vancouver.ca/green-vancouver/greenest-city-action-plan.aspx

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Humphead wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus) – wild population is globally recognized as “Endangered” by the IUCN

High-finned grouper (Cromileptes altivelis) – wild population is globally recognized as “Vulnerable” by the IUCN

Hong Kong grouper (Epinephelus akaara) – wild population is globally recognized as “Endangered” by the IUCN

Notably, some leading corporations in Hong Kong have already included these few species into their own internal dining policy, as advised by WWF-Hong Kong.Government should become more proactive in raising awareness of sustainable seafood (e.g Green category on WWF Seafood Guide, MSC / ASC certified seafood) through public awareness-raising activities and walking the talk.

ENDS