Enforcement failure in protected Hong Kong wetlands area
WWF-Hong Kong has criticised planning officials for their poor record of issuing penalties to those caught damaging the protected Inner Deep Bay area
Planning officials have come under scrutiny for weak enforcement ability as 435 cases of unauthorised development were recorded in the ecologically-sensitive Inner Deep Bay area over the last two decades.
Nearly 20 per cent of the cases involved illegally filling in wetland fish ponds, but only a third of those responsible were required to reinstate the ponds to their original condition, according to analysis by WWF-Hong Kong. Just six per cent were fined.
“Unauthorised development in the area has been on an upwards trend since 1992. Some of the areas have been degraded into open storage uses, filled or turned into contiguous ponds,” conservation officer Tobi Lau Shiu-keung said.
The scope of unauthorised development between 1992 and 2015 span about 153 hectares, which Lau said may have already caused irreversible damage to the wetland ecosystem. Annual cases have more than trebled in this period.
Inner Deep Bay, off Yuen Long, is an internationally recognised and vital wetland site under the 1995 Ramsar Convention. It is a wintering site for a tenth of the world’s black-faced spoonbills, an endangered migratory water bird. The area is protected by wetland conservation area (WCA) and wetland buffer area (WBA) planning controls .
Only 28 cases in the stated period led to prosecutions, with average fines of HK$66,392 per case, a figure which the WWF said was markedly lower than the HK$500,000 maximum penalty possible under the Town Planning Ordinance.
The group criticised the Planning Department for dragging its feet in taking enforcement action against offences given that only 30 per cent of cases issued reinstatement orders to restore the ponds to their original state.
“The longer law enforcement drags out, the greater the negative impact on the environment and the costlier it is to restore the habitat to its original state,” Lau said. Two thirds of cases were resolved within a year, while the rest took more than two or even three years to settle.
In one case study, a 200 metre square swathe of fish pond in Yuen Long’s Mai Po Lung was found to have been unlawfully filled in and turned into a parking site for containers, tractors and lorries in 1991. It took eight years for the government to issue an enforcement notice and only in 2000 did the department confirm satisfactory compliance.
Filling works continued and a reinstatement order was finally issued in 2007. But after 25 years of damage, the pond has practically disappeared.The site remains covered in concrete but blanketed in a layer of gravel and sand to “give it the appearance of restoration” from aerial images said Lau.
In another case, a 22 hectare swathe of fish pond along Tun Yu Road, near Lok Ma Chau was also gradually destroyed over the course of 17 years, despite being protected as a WCA.
The group urged the authorities to strengthen enforcement and penalties, demand all destroyed fish ponds to be restored and make an unauthorised development database available to the public.
A department spokesman said prosecution action was taken if recipients of enforcement notices failed to comply with requirements of the notice. The Development Bureau said it had no plans to amend the ordinance.
On Monday, conservation groups accused Heung Yee Kuk chief Lau Wong-fat of “illegally” filling five fish ponds in Yuen Long’s Ha Pak Nai, part of which has now been turned into a hydroponic farm. A company held by the Laus had applied – unsuccessfully – to build flats, a hotel and golf courses in 2007 and 2008.
