Promoting green hiking in Hong Kong
As Hong Kong people cannot travel aboard freely under the COVID-19 epidemic, they switch to local hiking activities instead, crowding countryside hotspots and creating garbage mountains.
In March last year, an environmental protection group and 16 volunteers went to Tai Mo Shan Country Park to clean up the trails. Within a 9-kilometer mountain trail, they collected 70 pounds of garbage, including a large number of food packaging and plastic bottles, as well as anti-epidemic supplies such as masks and wet tissues, which were not seen in the past. Actually, there were reports about people hanging discarded masks on trees in the countryside, such behavior lacks moral sense and increases the chance of spreading the virus. The team also found at least 1,500 cigarette butts in this cleanup operation. Had the cigarette butts not been completely extinguished, they would easily lead to wildfire disaster.
Last year, the number of prosecutions by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department for damaging plants and lighting fires illegally within country parks increased significantly. Among them, the number of cases of lighting fires illegally was three times that of 2018. The number of wildfires last
year recorded a 3-fold increase compared with 2019, affecting an area of 900 hectares, or about 47.4 Victoria Parks. This shows the destructive power of countryside visitors.
Some foreign environmental protection organizations advocated Leave No Trace principles, calling on countryside visitor to respect nature and reduce environmental damage, which was thought-provoking. The principles include:
1: Plan Ahead and Prepare, like make good use of apps to understand the surrounding of hiking trails to reduce unnecessary accidents and damage;
2: Travel & Camp on Durable Surfaces to reduce disturbance to surrounding plants and soil;
3: Dispose the Waste Properly to maintain a clean environment in the countryside;
4: Leave Things They Are, keep the original style, do not remove or take away any natural objects;
5: Minimize Campfire Impacts, reduce fires, make fires in designated barbecue sites or camps;
6: Respect Wildlife, respect wild animals and plants and do not disturb their living environment;
7: Be Considerate of Other Visitors, so that the countryside stays harmonious and inclusive.
In recent years, the Hong Kong government has been actively promoting the Green Hiking campaign to raise public awareness of nature conservation. From September to December last year, the Environmental Protection Department and local non-profit-making organizations launched a three-month Green Hiking Etiquette Campaign through a number of ambassadors to promote the message at popular hiking spots of Robin's Nest, Tai Lam Chung, Tai O, the Tsing Yi Nature Trails and the Yuen Tsuen Ancient Trail. They spread the key messages of Leave No Trace at Mountain and Sea, such as "take your litter home", "bring your own bottle to reduce single-use plastic consumables" and "proper disposal of masks". The ambassadors also introduced the scenery, ecological environment and biodiversity along the mountain trails to visitors to enhance citizens’ conservation awareness and establish a good hiking culture.
The countryside of Hong Kong is full of life and beauty with many varieties of plant, insect and small animal species. It is a nurturing place for biodiversity which has long been recognized worldwide. For example, MacLehose Trail has been selected as one of the world’s top 20 best hiking trails by the authoritative travel magazine National Geographic. We should be proud of it. Therefore, we need to work together to sustain the countryside environment, cherish the countryside and respect nature, so that our outings will be more fun.
-- Contact us at [email protected]m
-
Integration of GIS and BIM can drive development of smart city Dr. Winnie Tang
The China Association for Geospatial Industry and Sciences (“the CAGIS”) released the Top Ten Highlights of China's Geographic Information Industry in 2023, which provides much inspiration. The
-
Equip young people for the future Dr. Winnie Tang
In late February, the inaugural flight of an air taxi from Shenzhen Shekou Cruise Homeport to Zhuhai Jiuzhou Port took only 20 minutes with an estimated one-way ticket price of 200 to 300 yuan per
-
Are we raising a generation of leaders, or of followers? Brian YS Wong
The essence of education is defined not by the facts it imparts, but the potential knowledge it inspires students to individually pursue on their own. Put it this way – the ideal form of education
-
The urgent need for reforms to sex education in Hong Kong Sharon Chau
Nearly one in every four university students (23%) in Hong Kong has been sexually harassed, according to a 2019 report published by the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC). A 2019 study found that
-
STEAM should be linked to real life Dr. Winnie Tang
In the 2017 Policy Address, STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education was proposed as one of the eight major directions to promote I&T development. Since then, funding has
-
Integration of GIS and BIM can drive development of smart city
-
第五屆台北當代藝術博覽會 5月回歸南港展覽館
-
香港霹靂舞運動員:團隊並肩同行 走上國際舞台
-
THE FUTURE ROCKS打造K11 MUSEA快閃店
-
街頭演唱者:BUSKING歷練場 成就登台大將之風
-
心流藝術家:旋環登上舞台才能真正被看見
-
Russia’s nightmare – loss of Far East
-
尚品~即食花膠靚湯
-
My Brief Remarks – at the HKS China Conference
-
The perils of self-censorship