THE ENVIRONMENT
and reviewing the effectiveness of all environmental legislation; planning and developing facilities for liquid and solid waste disposal; and promoting the concept and practice of environmental audit and environmental management systems.
The Agriculture and Fisheries Department is the government's main agency for nature and wildlife conservation. Its duties include: designating and managing country parks, which cover some 40 per cent of Hong Kong's land area; identifying and protecting areas of conservation importance; enforcing the protection of flora and fauna; providing advice on ecological aspects of environmental planning and assessment; and promoting public awareness of nature conservation.
Other departments help to protect Hong Kong's environment. The Planning Department takes care of the environment in government urban and rural planning. The Drainage Services Department designs, builds, operates and maintains sewerage and sewage treatment and disposal facilities throughout the territory. The Territory Development Department carries out sewerage and sewage disposal works in new towns. The Urban Services Department and Regional Services Department collect refuse and maintain environmental hygiene. The Civil Engineering Department over- sees and operates old landfills for waste disposal. The Electrical and Mechanical Services Department operates refuse incinerators and promotes energy efficiency and conservation. The Marine Department clears floating refuse and oil from the harbour and enforces the law on oil spills.
Planning Against Pollution
The government's planning and assessment aims to pre-empt environmental pro- blems associated with projects, plans and strategies. This is done by incorporating environmental considerations into the making of all decisions that may impinge upon the environment and through the application of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process.
The EIA process is applied through administrative rather than statutory means. Over the past decade, such assessments have developed from an ad hoc requirement imposed on small number of projects to a set of systematic procedures followed by proponents in major projects. In 1995, 26 EIAs were completed and 103 EIAs were on-going.
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Environmental Impact Assessment Bill
The 1993 Second Review of the White Paper on Pollution proposed legislation to make environmental impact assessment for major developments a statutory require- ment. Draft legislation was prepared after extensive consultation and the EIA Bill is being introduced to the Legislative Council for consideration in its 1995–96 session.
EIA and Decision Making
Environmental impact assessment has been brought into the decision-making process of the Executive Council and the Finance Committee's Public Works Sub-Committee (PWSC), as a direct result of the Governor's requirement to include an EIA in sub- missions of policy proposals to the Executive Council and a similar requirement by the PWSC on all requests for funds approval.
During 1995, the EPD reviewed and gave advice to the Planning Environment and Lands Branch on 60 submissions to the Executive Council, compared with about 90
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