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THE ENVIRONMENT
About three-quarters of Hong Kong's land area is covered with hills and the vegetation on them includes grass, scrub and some 125 square kilometres of woodland – much of it the result of afforestation programmes. The woodlands not only beautify the countryside but also are important in the management of water catchments.
The Country Parks Ordinance, which came into effect in early 1976, gave fresh impetus to a five-year-old programme to develop the recreational potential of the countryside. The legislation provides for the designation, control and management of the most important areas of the countryside as country parks, and it enables them to be developed for recrea- tional purposes. It also gives particular protection to vegetation and wildlife.
During 1979, further progress was made to complete the country parks designation programme. An additional 10 parks, covering a total area of about 14,000 hectares, were designated. These are Lam Tsuen, Tai Mo Shan, Tai Lam Chung, Ma On Shan, Kiu Tsui, Clear Water Bay, Plover Cove Extension, and three small parks on Hong Kong Island. About 40 per cent of the total land area of Hong Kong is now country parks.
The Agriculture and Fisheries Department is responsible for conservation and forestry work and for relatively intensive management of countryside areas. Since 1972, it has been carrying out a programme to improve footpaths and to provide picnic and barbecue places, shelters, information and educational services, and other facilities. Road access to the countryside also is being improved to enable management services to deal more effectively with fire and litter - the most serious problems created by visitors.
The department also is responsible for fire protection, landscape rehabilitation, and the protection of flora and fauna. The Forests and Countryside Ordinance provides for the general protection and management of vegetation, and special protection is given to certain plants - including native camellias, magnolias, orchids, azaleas and the Chinese New Year Flower.
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The greater part of the countryside is subject to some form of prohibition on bird and wild mammal hunting and carrying firearms. Overall enforcement of the Wild Animals Protection Ordinance is carried out by eight full-time game wardens. They are supported by 342 government officials with the powers of game wardens and by 30 honorary game wardens. In addition, Justices of the Peace and police officers have the statutory powers of game wardens.
Aside from general conservation of the countryside, Hong Kong has now adopted the concept of identifying and conserving sites of special scientific interest to ecologists, such as a site where a rare tree or a rare species of butterfly can be found. Up to December 31, 1979, more than 40 sites had been identified for future conservation action.
Topography and Geology
Hong Kong is part of an ancient Cathaysian landmass that some 1,000 million years ago extended from Shandong (Shantung) in northern China to the Gulf of Hainan. Follow- ing intensive folding of its metamorphic and crystalline rocks, intense mountain building occurred with granitic and volcanic intrusions during the Mesozoic period, about 250 million years ago. From the beginning of the Quaternary period, between two to three million years ago, the lower-lying areas were alternatively flooded or exposed as masses of water were locked up or released from ice sheets. The last marine incursion was about 10,000 years ago; since that time there have been sporadic depositions of sedimentary material eroded from the hills.
This erosion of the hills and deposition in the valleys increased rapidly following the widespread colonisation of the Hong Kong area during the Song (Sung) Dynasty (960-1279).