Ten green groups, including Greenpeace, have called on the authorities to align its eco-tourism policies with international standards and adopt a conservation-oriented approach. They warn that such eco-projects will otherwise endanger local communities and ecosystems if they skew in favour of property developers’ interests.
Noting that the eco-tourism plan proposed to real estate developers in April included details of possible private residential developments, the ten environmental NGOs said that the proposed land use and development parameters were at odds with its initial 2024 development proposal.
The policy recommendations from 10 NGOs including Greenpeace, The Nature Conservancy, the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society, and Greeners Action, came as a three-month period came to a close for developers to submit expressions of interest for eco-tourism proposals in South Lantau and three areas of the Northern Metropolis – Tsim Bei Tsui, Pak Nai, and Lau Fau Shan.
The size of a plot tapped for eco-tourism in Tsim Bei Tsui also almost doubled in April’s proposal, from 45 hectares to 95 hectares, according to the green groups’ policy recommendations to the government.
The groups said that holiday accommodation and campsites with a gross floor area of 300,000 square feet had been planned on coastal protection areas and greenbelts around Cheung Sha and Pui O, while some 60 per cent of gross floor area in Tsim Bei Tsui, Pak Nai, and Lau Fau Shan would be private residential development.
It was also unclear whether the results of an earlier public consultation – which are yet to be announced by the authorities – would be included in the government’s planning considerations, the green groups said on Wednesday.
Development, conservation
“Without a proper conservation-oriented policy, the push for eco-tourism is bound to fail,” Lingnan University assistant professor Hui Tin-yan was quoted as saying in Greenpeace’s press release.
The environmental groups said that the government’s eco-tourism plans lacked targets for how disturbances would be minimised, and how infrastructure would integrate with the environment.
See also: Hong Kong to develop ‘eco-tourism’ spots on Lamma Island, other coastal areas
The NGOs also said that the government had not provided a clear account of whether revenue from eco-tourism would be redirected back into the conservation and management of natural and protected areas, as stipulated in UN guidelines.
“However, it seems that the government’s current arrangements are development-oriented without ensuring the participation of citizens and local communities,” which would put ecological and cultural resources at risk, the NGOs said.
The groups urged the government to set clear policy objectives and to launch a public consultation with wide participation. At the same time, the authorities “should immediately remove elements that are not in line with the principle of conservation, such as private development,” they said.
Greenpeace had previously said in a joint report with local think tank Liber Research Community that the government’s eco-tourism plans were “prioritizing investment attraction and catering to developer demands” after finding that existing arrangements may grant developers more flexibility to build private housing on ecologically sensitive land.
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