Society & Politics

Biodiversity in Hong Kong is being threatened by loopholes in law enforcement and protection By Daniel Ma Biodiversity in Hong Kong is under threat because of human activities, local environmental groups said. In March, eleven green groups organised the "Wall of Destruction: Eco-vandalism across Hong Kong" exhibition in Central. Among the displays is the recent illegal mud dump in Tsim Bei Tsui in Yuen Long District. According to environmentalists, illegal developments and fly tipping have damaged certain areas within high ecological value have suffered from degradation, which is mostly caused over the past decade. Dr. Michael Lau, Assistant Director in Conservation for WWF Hong Kong said the situation has worsened in recent years. "The first Eco-vandalism exhibition in 2010 displayed 49 cases of environmental destruction between 2006 and 2010. However, there has been no improvement at least 11 locations.. In some cases, it got worse and over the past six years,  56 new locations have been added to the list." he said. Environmental concern groups said such of the damage is the result of loopholes in law enforcement and protection. A case in point is Sha Lo Tung, Tai Po, also known as "Dragonfly Paradise". According to WWF, large scale vegetation clearance by the Lands Department since 2006 has drained the wetland and damaged the environment. Sha Lo Tung is listed as one of the priority sites for enhanced conservation under the government's New Nature Conservation Policy . But it is not  included in a country park area. Instead, it is regarded as a country park enclave. Such enclaves are areas of environmental interest but not within country park boundaries. Most of them are on private land. A spokesperson for the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department  said that in the case of Sha Lo Tung, most of the land has …

  by Sing Lee It is 9 p.m. on a weekday when a group of post-80s and post-90s gather in a narrow store room in a public estate building to discuss on ideas for their next issue of Tin Shui Wai Bimonthly Newspaper. After working for a whole day in urban areas, these young reporters spend up to two hours returning to their hometown to start their night shift – telling stories about the place they sleep in. "Tin Shui Wai is doomed as a ‘bedroom city', in which inhabitants only take naps between their two sections of long working hours," said Chung Yuen Yi, an experienced social worker and the chief executive of Tin Shui Wai Community Development Network. But the group of youthful residents are doing more than hibernation in the kingdom of Sleeping Beauty. Back in 2014, when the network receive subsidies from a permaculture foundation, they were thinking of a way to build and present stories of a sustainable city. They decided to start a local post written by the neighbourhood themselves as people did not even know what Tin Shui Wai has. The press has covered stories on market, entertainment, handcraft shops and farming in the area. Readers find the newspaper a useful guide to explore their close-yet-unfamiliar district, and some even collect every volume of the publication. Editors of the bimonthly, who are also local residents, said preparing the reports was a learning process for them too, making them sensitive to the community's issues. Leung Lai-yan, a cultural studies graduate and the organising officer of the post, said it was a success that has made them to try publishing investigative reports. The latest issue of Tin Shui Wai Bimonthly Newspaper includes an article on the use of planters, quoting the amount that the Yuen Long …

  by Jon Chan At the crack of dawn, domestic helper Jennifer Hinalan gets up to vacuum the house when most people are still tucked in their beds. Ms Hinalan, who works up to 15 hours a day, wakes up at 6 a.m. and goes to bed at 9 p.m.. Such a schedule is common among foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong. The proposed Standard Working Hours Scheme (SWHS) though, is unlikely to offer any relief. The scheme, set to be introduced next year, will regulate working hours and overtime pay. But domestic helpers will not be covered. According to the scheme, once a worker has completed the standard number of hours, he or she should stop working. It also introduces overtime pay that compensates employees at a premium rate. However, the Standard Working Hours Committee has yet to include domestic helpers in its discussion or surveys, according to the committee's website. "The Standard Working Hours Committee is further exploring the directions of a working hours policy applicable to Hong Kong," said Cathy Lui, spokeswoman for the Standard Working Hours Committee, in response to covering live-in domestic workers. In a statement, the Hong Kong Federation of Asian Domestic Workers Unions, has demanded the committee to include living domestic helpers in its deliberation for SWHS. "The consultation document says that certain countries exclude domestic workers in their SWH regulations," the statement says. "The lack of regulation on working hours of live-in domestic workers would send the wrong message to employers that they can order their helpers to work 24-hours a day." "The selective information by the committee suggests that domestic workers' cannot have SWH protection," statement says. Canada includes live-in maids in their labour laws and has set the standard hours of work at eight hours per day and 40 hours per week. If Hong Kong is to follow suit, Ms Hinalan, who works more than 10 hours a day, would receive overtime pay. But she doesn't want to see that happen because she is worried about losing her job. "(My employer) may have to pay me a lot more, so …

  by Fred Lai Every day before 6 am, more than 25,000 primary school kids start their day by marching through the still-asleep Shenzhen city to its border with Hong Kong, where they take school buses heading towards different parts of the city, from North District to Lan Tau in the south.

  by Alvin Kor Nineteen-year-old Jamella Mangali Lo needed a double lung transplan. She didn't get it. In October, she passed away after two anxious weeks of waiting. Since her death, the Hong Kong government announced it will resume the debate on making all citizens potential organ donors unless they explicitly state their objections. But experts doubt whether the so-called "opt-out scheme" can be implemented in a society dominated by traditional beliefs about life and death. The number of voluntary organ donors in Hong Kong is not keeping up with the rising demand for organs. Nearly 3,000 people are currently waiting for transplants, according to government figures. Although Hong Kong has seen an overall increase in organ donation, from about 4.2 donors per million people in 2005 to about 5.4 in 2015, the figures lag behind those in other developed societies. The United States has 27 organ donors per million people while Spain has 36. Secretary for Food and Health, Dr Ko Wing-man said the government will discuss the possibility of an optout scheme to boost the city's donation rate. Under the scheme, all Hong Kong residents will be put onto the donors list unless they submit an objection letter. Spain, the first country to adopt the opt-out organ donation system, has the world's highest donation rate. There are organ donation coordinators at every hospital. They counsel the patients and their families, and help facilitate their communication with medical workers. This successful "Spanish model" has prompted other countries, including the United Kingdom, to discuss the possibility of having a similar system. Twenty-four European countries have adopted opt-out schemes. But it is questionnable whether a majority of Hong Kongers can accept the idea of giving away organs after death. Yip Chun-hin, a 22-year-old university student, thought that this practice could be difficult to implement, because according to traditional Chinese beliefs, organ removal amount sot desecration of the dead. The belief is that the body needs to be buried whole and …