TNAG-0532-FCO40-627-Conservation-of-wildlife-in-Hong-Kong-1976 — Page 42

ENV 50/09/02

22nd May, 1975.

Professor Jean Dorst, Vice-President,

International Council for Bird Preservation, Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle,

55 rue de Buffon,

· 75 - Paris Ve,

FRANCE.

Dear Sir,

I have been authorised by His Excellency the Governor to reply to your letter dated 2nd April, 1975, in which you conveyed the text of a Resolution adopted at the World Conference of the International Council for Bird Preservation held in Canberra in August 1974 about a housing development whoch is planned in an area adjacent to the Mai Po Marshes.

I note that you have seen a copy of the draft lease conditions for the housing estate, but these were not in their final form. The Government is aware of the need to provide for the efficient management of the estate after individual housing units have been sold and we are determined to ensure that this will be provided on a permanent basis.

The Government obtains advice on ecology and wild life in llong Kong generally from the Nature Conservation Sub-Committee of the Advisory Committee on Recreational Development and Nature Conservation. This committee, which contains specialists in ecology and wild life, has recently endorsed a comprehensive report on the future of the Mai Po Marshes.

The report recommends that part of the area should be scheduled as a nature reserve and that part should be developed as a wild fowl park. The Advisory Committee did not take the view that a garden housing estate is incompatible with the proposed nature reserve and wild fowl park, provided that a protective bund and screen of trees were provided and properly maintained.

The maintenance of these works would be the responsibility of the estate management company, which will be subject to control through lease conditions.