“Countryside Cleanup 2023″ is the latest programme organized by Green Sense.

To tackle the problem of countryside plastic pollution, participants are not only going to clean up the plastic pollution spots, but also implemeting “Reuse”, “Recycle” & “Reduce” the single-use plastics.

Each local Non-Governmental Organizations or Charity Institutions are free to apply one 3-hour activity. Countryside cleanup, waste audit, transportation and tools are included.

If applicants are not able to arrange outdoor activities, cleanup ambassadors can be assigned to speak at venue provided by school or organization for 1 hour. The sharing session covers plastic waste problem, cleanup and green living experiences, as well as green hiking etiquettes.

Photos and video recording may be included. Participants should fill in the post-event questionnaires and pledge for Green Living.

The last event day of the Programme is 31 August 2023. 20 beneficiary group will be determined on a first come first served basis. Successful applicants will receive a confirmation email with activity details after 5 working days. Please contact 8100 4877 for any details.

REGISTER HERE: https://forms.gle/6vstYdHbjzXXpcra6

This programme is sponsored by Overlook Investments Limited.

Yuen Tsuen Ancient Trail is selected in the Charity Hike this year. It is not only an adventurous hiking trail but also an old trading route linking two settlements (Yuen Long & Tsuen Wan).  The journey is full of natural sceneries and historical features. Following the route with online supporting materials, participants would wander up and down along nature trail from Chai Wan Kok to Yuen Long. The hilltop Lookout at Shek Lung Kung will be soon approached. With 180 degree view of Hong Kong Island, Tsing Yi and Lantau, an unobstructed view of Tsing Ma Bridge and Victoria Harbour is unforgettable.

Due to the public gathering limit, we could not take part in the launching ceremony with hundreds of participants as in the previous years. Therefore the event period extends to 17 days, from 26 March to 11 April 2021.

Please support Green Sense Charity Hike 2021 by:

1. Join Green Sense Charity Hike 2021 (Chinese Event details can be viewed on http://greensense.org.hk/charityhike）【ENROLL NOW】

• Individual Participant: The minimum donation is $150 (Event Charm, TrailWatch Mobile 3 in 1 Lens and Gift Voucher pack)
• Individual donating $250 or more will be awarded Valued Gift Pack (Including Event Charm, Green Sense x Lockill Resuable Face Mask, TrailWatch Mobile 3 in 1 Lens and Gift Voucher pack)
• Company Team of 4 Participants: The minimum donation is HK$1000 (4 Valued Gift Packs and E-certificate will be issued for appreciation)

2. Make a donation 【Click here to make an online donation】

• If you cannot join the Charity Hike 2021, donations are also welcomed.

Route Preview:
Yuen Tsuen Ancient Trail (Half): Tsuen Wan to Shum Tseng (~10km in 3 hours)
Chai Wan Kok at Allway Gardens → Shek Lung Kung Pavilion → Lin Fa Shan Public School Ruin → Ting Fu Tsai → Tsing Fai Tong → Sham Tsang
Reference: https://www.trailwatch.hk/?t=activities&rid=10212856

Yuen Tsuen Ancient Trail (Full): Tsuen Wan to Tai Tong (~12.5km in 5.5 hours)
Chai Wan Kok at Allway Gardens → Shek Lung Kung Pavilion → Lin Fa Shan Public School Ruin →  Ting Fu Tsai → Tai Lam Country Park →  Tai Tong, Yuen Long
Reference: https://www.trailwatch.hk/?t=activities&rid=10212838

Please protect the countryside by “Leave No Trace” , hope we all can keep up with the green living and cherish the natural environment for our next generation.

Disclaimer, Terms and Conditions:

The organiser, its contractors and employees and representatives will not be responsible for any accidents or injuries to participants or spectators during the event.

Donation is non-refundable. The Organiser reserves the right to refuse entry to participants who declare false information on their application form, do not make the minimum donation, or fail to meet application requirements as stated.

The Seven Principles of “Leave No Trace” are as follow:

1. Plan ahead and be prepared

• Prior to hiking, conduct research concerning outdoor knowledge and skills needed

• Be well planned and ready for an offline map to reduce risks

• Protect nature to get back to its resilience state from not going to highly concentrated trails

• Prevent food waste and to bring sufficient food and water

2. Use the constructed trails only

• Do not create your own trail for excitement because this practice would destroy the vegetation cover and lead to surface runoff

• Use constructed hiking trails, try not to take shortcuts in order to minimize the distrubance to natural environments

• When there is no constructed trail, step on places that are more stable, such as rocks, hay, and stones

3. Picking up Trash

• Bring your own container for food and water. Do not bring food with excessive packaging just for your own convenience

• Take away your own trash and do not leave them in the wild

• Do not leave food waste in nature even they would be decomposed. Food exposed under the sun would result in hygienic concerns

• Bring a bag and a pair of gloves for picking up trash along the way under hygienic conditions

4. Leave the environment as the way it is

• Do not pick any flora in nature

• Do not create unnecessary marks in the environment

• Not to alter the habitat and cultural environment in a local context

• Do not take away anything

5. Avoid the use of fire

• Keep away from setting fire in places other than the suggested area, fire would leave permanent marks on the land

• Avoid smoking. Cigarette butts could potentially lead to forest fire that would harm plants and animals

• Prevent setting fire and use high efficient cookery and lighting tools, in order to lower the impacts to the environment

6. Respect Wildlife

• Starting off not to feed animals to leave their living habits unchanged

• Not to hurt, approach, or intervene with wildlife in nature

7. Be a considerate individual to other hikers

• Be polite to other hikers

• Avoid occupying a resting area for a long period of time

• Let hikers heading uphill go first if two individuals or groups are walking into one another from two directions

• Keep your voice low to ensure a quiet environment in the wild

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To receive more detailed and interesting  information regarding Hiking Etiquette, please follow our Facebook and Instagram page.

Green Sense also hosts shoreline cleaning and other outdoor activities occasionally.

Green Sense has invited Mr. Dickson Wong, a biology teacher at Ho Koon Nature Education Cum Astronomical Centre, as the speaker of the talk.

Mr. Wong obtained his M. Phil. in Environmental Science at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and is now a biology teacher at Ho Koon Nature Education Cum Astronomical Centre. A veteran in nature education with extensive experience, Mr. Wong brings his students into Nature and guides them to study first-hand the wild life of Hong Kong as well as issues in urban development and environmental conservation.

Mr. Wong is no stranger to Hong Kong’s biodiversity, having fallen in love with bird-watching a little more than ten years ago and now extended his interest of study to dazzlingly-variated insects, often-unnoticed spiders, and even aquatic life. In 2006, he published “A Guide to the Spiders of Hong Kong”, the first field guide for spiders of the city, which include a total of 222 species in 30 families. Mr. Wong is also a well-known conservation blogger, who frequently publishes articles online to stand up for Hong Kong’s natural environment.

In this talk, Mr. Wong will guide us in a journey through time and space, showing us the changes of Nature with the seasons and various landscapes of Hong Kong. We start from mudflats, mangrove forests and coral communities, then travel up along streams through woodlands and bushlands, and finally reach the hilltops. At the same time, through different angles, we study also Hong Kong’s precious birds, charming reptiles and amphibians, highly variegated insects, sturdy corals, fascinating spiders, and the tardigrade or ‘water bear’ – a microscopic yet near indestructible aquatic organism.

Event details:

Theme: An Overview of Hong Kong Biodiversity

Speaker: Mr. Dickson Wong

Date: 6^th January 2018 (Saturday)

Time: 9:30 to 11:30 am

Venue: Room 501, the Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs Association of Hong Kong, 3 Lockhart Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong

Admission fee: Free

To apply: https://goo.gl/G4iEe7

*Participants will receive a Certificate of Participation (Hours counted: 2 hours)

For any enquiries, please contact us through 8100 4877.

The tour started at the Peak Galleria, we witnessed the problem of light pollution. After that, we walked along Harlech Road to Lung Fu Shan Country Park. Frogs, spiders, centipedes and other nocturnal animals were seen from time to time. We gained an insight on the characteristics of different amphibians, reptiles, various animals and plants.

Hong Kong is well known of its high density of skyscrapers, and is called “concrete jungle”. Yet, there are many natural creatures living right beside us, and all we have to do is to look around carefully. Green Sense hope that participants could understand the relationship of human and nature through this ecotour, as well as ponder on the balance and trade-off between urban development and natural environment.

There are about 40% of land area designated as country parks and special areas, which nurtured a vast diversity of flora and fauna. To celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the Country Parks,  all are welcome to join the celebration programmes, visiting by oneself is also not difficult.

Hiking Scheme (Leisure and Cultural Services Department): http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/en/healthy/hiking/index.html

Enjoy Hiking (Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department): http://hiking.gov.hk/eng/trail_list/type.htm

More photos of the events: https://flic.kr/s/aHskWUNMiY

Dear Ms Li,

Re: Illegal pruning at the egretry in Kwong Fuk Road, Tai Po, and
subsequent destruction of nests and killing of wild birds

 On 6^th June, 2017, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) carried out a tree pruning operation at the junction of Kwong Fuk Road and Wan Tau Kok Lane, during which multiple wild egrets and herons were injured or killed and their nests and eggs destroyed.

Appallingly, pruning staff continued to trim the trees, despite being aware of the damage caused by the operation. We, along with the majority of the public, strongly condemn this act of cold-bloodedness and cruelty.

The pruning operation, in addition to being rather illogical, raises concern in public issues including public resources utilization, tree management and animal protection laws. Hence, we demand detailed responses from the LCSD to the following:

1. Did the LCSD carry out any operation in response to ‘a request from the public referred by a relevant government department seeking the trimming of overgrown tree branches at the junction of Kwong Fuk Road and Wan Tau Kok Lane in Tai Po’, as reported by various media? If so, which government department or district council member had made the referral? In addition to ‘overgrown branches’, did the complaint referred by the department or district council member concern also bird droppings, etc?
2. Before its decision to respond to the referred request, did the LCSD engage qualified aboriculturalists to conduct an independent tree risk assessment, or ecology experts to conduct ecological impact assessments of procedures in the operation? If so, I urge the LCSD to immediately make public the full texts of these reports. If not, please explain the reasons for not conducting said assessments before tree trimming.
3. Was the pruning operation carried out by a contractor, or solely by the LCSD New Territories East Tree Team?
   What were the name and rank of the government officer who authorized the operation?
4. Are the authorizing officer and pruning staff qualified in aboriculture? Before the operation, did the LCSD consult or inform the Tree Management Office (TMO) of the Development Bureau, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD), and other related departments, as per usual practice?
5. The LCSD should be aware that the concerned woodland is adjacent to the Tai Po Egretry, a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) located at Kwong Fuk Road, Tai Po Market, and that it has been a breeding ground for egrets for years. Even if the LCSD was unaware of this, it could easily deduce, during on-site assessments before pruning, that the woodland was a home to birds, evident from bird droppings on branches and the ground beneath the trees. Why, then, did the LCSD nevertheless go on with the tree pruning operation, threatening the safety of the birds at the site?
6. Suppose that pruning staff did not notice bird nests on the trees before pruning. What actions did the person-in-charge take, then, when the staff noticed hatchlings, eggs and damaged nests falling from the trees during the operation? Why did the LCSD continue with the operation, neglecting the Wild Animals Protection Ordinance (Cap. 170), which states, in Section 4, that ‘no person shall, except in accordance with a special permit, hunt or wilfully disturb any protected wild animal’, and in Section 5, that ‘no person shall, except in accordance with a special permit, take, remove, injure, destroy or wilfully disturb a nest or egg of any protected wild animal’?
7. Does the LCSD admit that it has committed a criminal offence against the aforementioned Wild Animals Protection Ordinance?

Due to the seriousness of the matter, please give, in details, an account of the incident and responses to the above questions by 9^th June (Friday).

Sincerely,

Roy Tam Hoi-pong

Chief Executive (Voluntary), Green Sense

Green Sense Charity Hike 2017 finished successfully at 19th March under the rainy weather. More than 300 participants and volunteers joined this activity. Thanks to the full support of everyone of you, the event was able to successfully completed.

We would like to express our gratitude to every company teams, individual participants and all the volunteers who stayed at their position under the rain till last minute. The event could conclude successfully all because of your participation and co-operation.

We hope everyone enjoyed this journey and gained the green messages at the check points. We also hope that everyone acts green from now on to protect our precious nature. Green Sense will continue to point out the non-environmental friendly practice in society through research and monitoring, in order to enhance the environmental consciousness by education and publicity.

Event highlights of the day: https://flic.kr/s/aHskWkZYhQ

Objection to Developing Country Parks and the Adjustment Mechanism

Make Use of Brownfield Sites, Military Camps and Spare Land

The Chief Executive Mr. CY Leung told the media that he has instructed relevant departments to conduct a study on developing country parks. Green Groups are furious and strongly opposed to this, as the public has already voiced opposition to the development of country parks.  However, the government still insists on doing so and, furthermore, devotes more resources to this, deliberately leading to conflict within our community.

In fact, there is still a lot of land available for development in Hong Kong. The housing shortage problem has originated from “Uneven Distribution”. Over the years, the government has avoided reviewing the “Small House Policy” (land designated for New Territories Exempted Houses), unused Military Camps and Brownfield sites. These are the main reasons for the present situation.   Moreover, the government has failed to address the problem of vacant housing units and private flats used for investment and speculation purposes, falsely presenting the situation as a “lack of land”. As there are other land resource options, it is totally unacceptable for the government to use the welfare of the elderly as an excuse for developing country parks.

Country Parks are important features and treasures in Hong Kong. Apart from the environmental value of preserving our precious ecology, they are also well-known for eco-tourism, community enjoyment (for public recreation) and even have a role to play in urban planning (for preventing over-expansion of the urban areas). Country parks are also important water catchment areas, which allow rainwater to flow into surrounding reservoirs. Furthermore, trees in country parks can absorb carbon dioxide and offset some of the greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels, which relieves global warming.

Mr. CY Leung pointed out that low ecological parts of country parks can be developed. We totally disagree with his claims. All the plants, flowers and birds in the country parks have their own meaning and value to the natural environment. Ecological value cannot be measured in objective criteria. He further suggested the “Adjustment Mechanism” in Country Parks, which we consider to be “weasel words” designed to mislead the public about conservation. The geographical location, the terrain, environment and the ecology of each existing country park are unique and should not be replaced by any excuses. The exchange of another “new” country park area is totally a mistake.

Mr. CY Leung hasn’t made good use of brownfield sites, military campsites or spare land before advocating the development of country park borders. Hong Kong’s housing problem could also be solved not just by finding land but also by controlling housing demand through a population policy. Once the natural environment is destroyed, it cannot be restored to what it was before. Therefore, the government should not develop our country parks, which are the pride of Hong Kong people.

Co-sign Parties (Alphabetical Order)

Ark Eden

Association for Geoconservation, Hong Kong

Clean The Air

Designing Hong Kong

Environmental Life Science Society, SS, HKUSU

Friends of the Earth (HK)

Friends of Hoi Ha

Friends of Tai Long Wan

Greeners Action

Green Community

Green Lantau Association

Green Peace East Asia

Green Power

Green Sense

HKWildlife.net

Hong Kong Bird Watching Society

Living Islands Movement

Range Education Centre

The Conservancy Association

The Green Earth

Society of Hong Kong Nature Explorers Kong Nature Explorers

Pollution is severe in Southwest Fan Lau and Kau Ling Chung Beach in Lantau

Government measures should be announced to prevent the reflux of refuse

Recently large amount of garbage from mainland was driven to Hong Kong and was brought to the beaches. After the report from media, residents have paid more attention to the problem of marine refuse.

Member from Green Sense did an inspection in the Southwest Fan Lau and Kau Ling Chung Beach on 10 July. These two places and the mangrove in Shui Hau are located on the south coast of Lantau Island, which suffers from the problem of marine refuse. In the report ”Investigation on the Sources and Fates of Marine Refuse in Hong Kong” published in April 2015 by Environmental Protection Department, Fan Lau and the mangrove in Shui Hau are both classified as priority areas. Green Sense believes that the problem in Shui Hau would be followed up after the visit and cleaning by the government officials. However, Fan Lau and Kau Ling Chung Beach are remote areas and can only be reached by rough paths, which make the cleaning a bigger challenge. The Government should not ignore the problem of marine refuse in the areas. Green Sense would also report the situation to Government departments.

“The government should announce the measures, and provide more resources on cleaning marine refuse, in order to prevent the reflux of garbage back into the ocean. The government should also negotiate with the Chinese government on the proper waste management, in preventing the impact to the marine ecology and the environment. ”said Roy Tam, Chief Executive (Voluntary) of Green Sense. Tam thinks that manpower and marine refuse would need to be transported through waterway at places like Fan Lau and Kau Ling Chung, therefore more attention is needed to the arrangement of the cleaning by the government.

Marine refuse is one of the problems that no one should ignore, we should be responsible to protect the environment. Green Sense appeals to you all for reducing consumption and wastage, in order to provide a livable environment for our next generation.

Click here for more photos on the day of inspection

Even the weather was not fine, we all were well prepared and completed the trekking joyfully.

Please stay tuned to Green Sense updates. See you next year!

More photos can be viewed by clicking the album below: