ENG-2008 — Page 332

268 The Environment

For major projects, permit holders are required to set up dedicated websites to publish the results and data obtained from the environmental monitoring and auditing process. Since 2002, proponents of major projects have been required to set up web camera systems to enable the public to see conditions at their sites.

Land Use Planning

For major land use planning studies, a Strategic Environmental Assessment is required to incorporate environmental considerations into the formulation of land use plans. Under the Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance, an EIA must be carried out as part of the engineering feasibility study of urban development or redevelopment projects with a study area of more than 20 hectares or involving a population of more than 100 000 people. These environmental assessments are an integral part of the planning studies and help identify major environmental issues and possible mitigation measures for inclusion in the land use plans.

Environmental Management and Sustainability

The Government promotes environmental management in both the public and private sectors through the Green Manager Scheme, environmental auditing, environmental management systems (EMS) and environmental performance reporting. All bureaux and departments have appointed Green Managers, most of whom have regular environmental audit programmes, and some hold ISO 14001 EMS certificates. All bureaux and departments publish annual reports of their environmental performance. Starting from 2007, all annual environmental performance reports incorporate, where appropriate, the principles of the 'Clean Air Charter' which the Government supports to improve Hong Kong's air quality. To further promote environmental performance reporting in the private sector, the EPD has established a dedicated webpage encouraging listed companies in Hong Kong to share their environmental/sustainability information with their stakeholders.

Rural Developments

The Government is committed to improving the quality of life in rural areas and to ending or removing land uses that downgrade the rural environment. The facilities for sewage disposal in the rural areas of the New Territories are also better than before and are still being improved. In 2008, the Government earmarked an additional $10 billion for projects with village sewerage components to provide public sewers to enable domestic discharges from villages in rural and other unsewered areas to be conveyed to sewage treatment works.

Cross-boundary Co-operation

Because environmental pollution transcends administrative boundaries, Hong Kong and Guangdong have been working together on environmental matters for over 20 years.

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government and the Guangdong Provincial Government have drawn up and taken forward a Regional Air Quality Management Plan that aims to reduce pollutant emissions in the region by 20 per cent to 55 per cent by 2010, taking 1997 as the base year. Since November