Hong Kong environmental groups join forces to sound warning over potential loss of bird haven because of new I&T hub planned for San Tin
- Nine organisations say the planned San Tin Technopole plan could endanger 117 bird species of special conservation value, including critically endangered ones
- Development Bureau earlier says the technopole would affect only 90 hectares of wetlands and fish ponds, but environmentalists disagree
Nine organisations on Tuesday said the proposed “San Tin Technopole” plan for the New Territories could put at risk the survival of up to 117 bird species of special conservation value, such as the critically endangered Baer’s pochard and endangered black-faced spoonbill.
The area of the bird reserve is 13 times the size of Causeway Bay’s Victoria Park.
“Damage to wetlands there could threaten migratory bird populations in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway,” Wong Suet-mei, a conservation officer at the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society, said.
The flyway is one of the major migratory routes for birds in a span from New Zealand to Alaska. It supports 50 million migratory birds a year, including 32 threatened and 19 near-threatened species.
Other activist groups involved in the campaign to protect the site include the Conservancy Association, Green Power, Greenpeace and World Wide Fund for Nature.
