Part of Tai O - Lantau - wetland threatened

Email recently received: The attached letter (only English version received by me): The Society for the Environment and Development of Tai O 2/F, 13A Shek Tsai Po Street, Tai O, 21 March 2007 Mr. Byron Lam, JP The Islands District Officer The Islands District Office Dear Mr Lam, Our Society is a registered non-profit-making local organization formed by a group of Tai O residents in 2000. Over the years we have expressed our views to the Government on the development of Lantau and Tai O. Recently we heard that there was a proposal to fill up the wetland adjacent to Buddhist Fat Ho Memorial College for the construction of an eco-education center of the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals to which we are strongly opposed as we pointed out years ago that the site belongs to a complete adjoining wetland system and it should be known that in respect of wetland ecology, wetland hydrology is a sensitive inter-dependent eco-system. If the wetland was filled up, it would have serious impact on the reed field around Leung Uk, being one of the reed fields with most eco-value in Hong Kong and a major habitat for wading birds, as the site is the ingress and egress of the current of the adjoining wetlands as a whole. In 2001, Dr. Yvonne Sadovy, an academic in Biodiversity of the University of Hong Kong, and Dr. Gordon S Maxwell, an academic of the Open University of Hong Kong, visited the place and decided it has value in eco-conservation. They pointed out that the site is a significantly valuable piece of wetland for conservation of fishes where numerous mangrove trees are growing, some of them over 20 years old. We note that within Tai O, there are a few abandoned schools and buildings. As such, it is not necessary to sacrifice the wetland eco-system for the purpose of eco-education. This could be an example of the absurdity and ignorance of the government of a modern society indeed. We wish that you would pass our views to relevant government departments and the applicant organization so as not to repeat the lesson of the Tai O Phase I Works. We also object to the proposed works of Sun Ki to Lung Tin because that site is also a piece of wetland where many wading birds inhabit and there are rich wetland species. Too many visitors gather around to take a closer view would have an adverse effect on its eco-system. We note that the original Sun Ki Bridge is enough to serve the purpose of viewing without the need to further waste tax-payers¡¦ money to build another bridge that is not only going to affect the ecology but also unnecessary. We wished that our views would be listened to and passed to the ears of relevant departments. Yours Sincerely Ho Pui Han (Executive Officer of The Society for the Environment and Development of Tai O)