THE ENVIRONMENT
Overall enforcement of the ordinances is carried out by nature wardens and park wardens. These officers also provide information at visitor centres and escort groups on guided visits. In addition to general conservation of the countryside, Hong Kong has adopted the concept of identifying and conserving sites of special scientific interest, such as a site where a rare tree or a rare species of butterfly can be found. Fifty sites have so far been identified.
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Meteorological Services
Royal Observatory
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The Royal Observatory was established in 1883, mainly to provide scientific information for the safe navigation of ships. In the ensuing century, the observatory has evolved in line with the changing needs of the community. It now provides meteorological and geophysical information, issues forecasts, warnings and weather advice to meet the diverse requirements of the public, shipping, aviation, industry, fishing, recreation, offshore oil prospecting and other special users.
The observatory conducts studies and provides services in the fields of hydro- meteorology, climatology, astronomy, physical oceanography, applied meteorology, and radiation monitoring and assessment. It also operates the official time service for Hong Kong and maintains a comprehensive seismological monitoring network.
Of all the services, the most important are weather forecasting and the issuing of warnings on hazardous weather. These are provided by the Central Forecasting Office to the general public, ships at sea and fishermen and yachtsmen in coastal waters. Whenever Hong Kong is threatened by tropical cyclones, frequent warnings with advice on necessary precautions are widely disseminated. Other warnings are those on thunderstorms, flooding, landslip, storm surge, fire danger, strong monsoons and frost. Specialised weather services are provided to engineering contractors, public utility companies, public transport opera- tors, operators of oil rigs and other commercial enterprises.
Particular importance is attached to the effective dissemination of up-to-date weather information to the public, the media and other users. Weekly weather programmes are presented by observatory forecasters on television, to provide in-depth discussion of recent weather events by professional meteorologists. Two special bulletins with weather charts as illustrations are prepared for the press each day. When warranted, live interviews and briefings are given by forecasters over radio and television. For members of the public requiring instant access to weather forecasts or tropical cyclone information, the observatory has implemented a dial-a-weather service. The demand for this service has continued to grow and more than one and a half million calls were handled in 1990. There are now eight Chinese and one English dial-a-weather lines in operation. On average 4 200 calls are handled daily, with the number of calls exceeding 600 calls per hour at times. Tailor-made weather information for special users is supplied through teletype, telex or telefax. The observatory also provides information to INFOTEX and INFOFAX, which make available to telex and telefax terminal holders a large variety of routine weather information, including pictorial information such as the daily weather map.
From 1990 onwards, IDD subscribers may obtain recorded weather information by dialling pre-specified numbers. Weather information is also made available for access by terminals connected to a commercial communication network.