24
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1
Sir Denys Roberts KBE C JP HONG KONG
Telephone 01-
Your reference
30
Our reference
Date
10 December 1975
A...
(32)
CONVENTION ON WETLANDS OF INTERNATIONAL IMPORTANCE
In his letter of 17 June, the Governor agreed that the Wetlands Convention might be extended to Hong Kong, but that this would be contingent upon the Mai Po Marshes not being designated as a Wetland of international importance. Laurence O'Keeffe replied to the Governor on 3 July, saying that we had made this point clear to the DOE. We have, in fact, now heard from them on the subject. We hope the following reaction will give you the assurance you need to agree to the inclusion of Hong Kong in our Ratification.
2. As far as the UK is concerned, it is the Nature Conservancy Council that is solely responsible for proposing wetland sites (the International Union for the Conservation of Nature being the confirming body), and we expect that the Council will play a similar role in respect of the Dependent Territories included under our Ratification. Since the Nature Conservancy Council's statutory authority runs only in the British Isles, they can propose sites only in full co-operation and consultation with the Administration in the various territories. As an official agency answerable to the Secretary of State for the Environment, we do not believe that the Nature Conservancy Council would propose the designation of wetlands against the wishes of a Dependent Territory.
3. As to the Mai Po Marshes, the Nature Conservancy Council say that they do have certain characteristics that would on the face of it make them suitable for consideration as a wetland under the terms of the Convention; we have in fact so declared one site (Loch Lomond) which is smaller than the Mai Po marshes, though most of the areas so far declared are very considerably larger. However, the Council has been careful to designate only sites where there are reasonably good administrative safeguards and a long-term prospect of maintaining them in a suitable state. The particular problem applying to the Mai Po Marshes would tend to put them in the category of other wet- lands which we have deliberately refrained from designating because
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