HKU Bulletin May 2005 (Vol. 6 No. 3)

5 4 A Primer on Hong Kong’s Ecology T wo ecologists have stepped out of the narrow confines of scientific literature to publish an overview of Hong Kong’s ecology and biodiversity, with a higher purpose in mind. Professor David Dudgeon of the Department of Ecology and Biodiversity said: “Academics were often rewarded for producing arcane scientific papers, but those do little to save the natural environment. Citizens are the ones who do that. With this new book, we’re making information available to people about the environment they have, so they can decide whether or not they want to protect it.” The book, The Ecology and Biodiversity of Hong Kong , was written by Professor Dudgeon and Associate Professor Dr Richard Corlett and expands on a textbook they wrote 10 years ago, Hills and Streams : An Ecology of Hong Kong . The latter identified gaps in knowledge that have been followed up in the new book, which is the most comprehensive record available on the subject. “One of the outcomes of Hills and Streams was that we proposed to do a biodiversi ty survey in Hong Kong. Nothing had been done systematically before then,” Dr Corlett said. “It was a massive survey that went on for five years and enabled us to map more than 6,000 species. This is still a minority of what’s out there (an estimated 25,000 species), but it includes the things people are interested in, like butterflies, birds, plants, fish and so on.” The Ecology and Biodiversity of Hong Kong gives an overview of these species and their Hong Kong habitats. It addresses such issues as whether Hong Kong i s t ropical , the environmental history of Hong Kong, the nature of terrestrial and stream communities here, genetic and species biodiversity, ‘bad biodiversity’ from the introduction of alien species, and conservation measures and obligations. “Hong Kong has been very successful, in that you wouldn’t predict a place with seven million people and 1,000 square kilometres would set aside 40 per cent of land for countryside,” Dr Corlett said. The diversity of life here is also an unexpected finding. Professor Dudgeon said most ecologists focused mainly on forested areas and wanted to preserve them in pristine condition. They tended to ignore the ‘white bits’ of deforested, developed land, but “Hong Kong was a white bit, and these white bits aren’t without value,” he said. Having said that, the authors hope their book will help to prevent the destruction of areas of ecological value, by alerting people to those areas that need protection. “Consultants and developers used to argue that we didn’t know enough about Hong Kong’s ecology and biodiversity. But it is clear from this book that a huge amount is now known. You can’t use ignorance as a defence for environmental damage,” Dr Corlett said. The Ecology and Biodiversity of Hong Kong appears in three versions – English, traditional Chinese and simplified Chinese versions – with a view to giving it a wide audience. It is published by the Friends of the Country Parks and Joint Publishing Ltd and has been supported by the government’s Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department and the Friends of the Country Parks, and costs $150. Safety First T he University has employed two new specialist safety officers following the recommendations in the recently published Report on the Review of Health and Safety Management . The Report suggested a number of procedures for upgrading the University’s commitment to health and safety in the workplace and highl ighted the need to develop addi t ional expert ise in biolog ical safety and construction safety. “These were the two areas which were considered most risky. But we do not have appropriate expertise to deal with these issues,” said Director of Safety, Dr Des Mabbott. So the University has recently employed two such experts – Edward Kwok and Dr Mike Mackett. Edward Kwok has worked in construction for almost three decades and is an expert in the relevant safety issues. From 1992 to 1996 he was employed by the Airport Authority, as Senior Safety Advisor, responsible mainly for the terminal building at Chek Lap Kok. He saw the project develop from the initial reclamation, when he oversaw safety in dredging, landfill, use of large dump trucks and stockpile work right through to the final completion of the main terminal building. He was also responsible for safety on the construction of the main railway terminus and control tower, as well as the police and fire stations. “I was lucky to be sponsored by the Hong Kong government to receive on-the-job training for an international diploma from the British Safety Council. Then I worked on attachment with the British Airport Authority at Heathrow,” he said. Kwok emigrated to Canada in 1996 but returned to Hong Kong three years later to work as a resident safety manager at West Rail until 2003, where he oversaw safety issues on the construction of two statio A n l s s . o no stranger to academia, Kwok a part-time lecturer for ten years at The Chinese University of Hong Kong where he taught construction supervisor courses. At the University his job will be to develop a health and safety management system for the ent i re Estates Of f ice and var ious departments involved in construction. His work will cover existing buildings and all new project works. He will also be tailoring courses on safety for the Estates Office staff. Biological Safety Officer, Dr Mackett, joins the University from the Health and Safety Executive, the UK body which regulates health and safety in the workplace. While there he was actively involved in inspecting universities, companies, indust r ial plants and hospi tals, particularly in the assessment of risk for genetic modification. Here at the University he wi l l initially assess the work carried out with biological agents, with particular regard to genetic modification. His dual academic and regulatory background will serve him in good stead in his new position. “I was an honorary lecturer in the Depar tment of Medicine of the University of Manchester so I had contact with people in the medical school but I was actually in the Paterson Institute for Cancer Research in Manchester from 1983 to 2000.” He agrees that the regulatory framework in the UK is quite different to Hong Kong and that the University acknowledged it needed some advice and help in the area of biological safety. “Researchers were asking for answers to questions that they needed to know and no-one here was in the position to answer. So I will be here to advise but also to regulate,” he explained. Mackett will also be concentrating on issues of high risk like work carried out on the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus and bird flu. “These are areas that I’m going to have to look at quite closely.” He has a strong background in virus research having completed his PhD at St Mary’s Hospital, London in the molecular analysis of poxviruses before working at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, where he helped develop a system that allowed poxviruses to express foreign genes and showed that they could be used as vaccines. At the Paterson Institute he worked on the Epstein-Barr virus developing vaccines. NEWS ROUND-UP