Chloe Lai in Guangzhou, SCMP – Mar 30, 2009 Carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, is likely to be excluded from the Pearl River Delta air quality management plan for a further decade. The plan is due for renewal by the Guangdong and Hong Kong governments next year and the Environmental Protection Department is tight-lipped [...]
Posts from ‘March, 2009’
Air Of Detachment
CHRISTINE LOH, SCMP – Mar 26, 2009 The government ought to do the work itself. By palming off a review of Hong Kong’s outdated air quality objectives to a consultant, the administration has shown its disconnectedness from a critical task. This is not its intention, of course. Presumably, the government wanted to appear independent, but [...]
Wan Chai Air Pollution Report Spurs Push For Traffic-free Streets
Cheung Chi-fai, SCMP – Mar 26, 2009 Local politicians in Wan Chai want more pedestrian flyovers, traffic-free streets and further greening of the area after a study they commissioned found particulate matter in the district’s air at levels nearly five times higher than recommended under the most stringent world standards. The joint Wan Chai District [...]
Australia Defends Inclusion Of Air Pollution In New Travel Warning
Rosanne Barrett, SCMP – Mar 26, 2009 The Australian government has defended its decision to cite air pollution in Hong Kong in a new travel warning. It said a change to its travel advice for the city, highlighting the potential health impacts of air pollution, was timely as part of a “comprehensive, consistent and factual” [...]
City’s Air Is Bad For You, Australians Told Visitors From Down Under Get Pollution Alert
Rosanne Barrett, SCMP – Mar 25, 2009 The Australian government has cited Hong Kong’s air pollution as a potential health issue, in a new travel warning to its citizens. Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs issued the updated travel advice on Monday, which is sent to all subscribers and posted on its Smartraveller website. It comes [...]
Top Official’s Indecent Haste
SCMP – Mar 24, 2009 Permanent Secretary for the Environment Anissa Wong Sean-yee chaired the Hong Kong advisory panel on “Review of Air Quality and Development of a Long Term Air Quality Strategy”. But she walked out of the “Air Quality Objectives and Strategy Public Consultation Forum – the Opportunity for the General Public to [...]
Lawmakers Hit Out At Air-quality Targets
Joyce Ng, SCMP – Mar 20, 2009 Lawmakers criticised the government yesterday for setting its targets for meeting World Health Organisation air quality guidelines so low, and for lacking a timetable for implementing them. Their comments came at a meeting of the Legislative Council environmental affairs panel to discuss a report on the air quality [...]
HK Told To Aim Low On Clean-air Targets Officials Advise Adopting WHO’s Guidelines
Cheung Chi-fai, SCMP – Updated on Mar 14, 2009 Hong Kong has been advised to adopt the minimum targets of World Health Organisation air quality guidelines, officials said yesterday. They were unveiling the outcome of the air quality objectives review conducted by its consultant since June 2007. The review aimed to update the standards unchanged [...]
No Time For Cold Feet
SCMP – Updated on Mar 13, 2009 A confession: each time I read or hear the words “climate change”, I mentally switch off. It wasn’t always this way; I am environmentally sympathetic by nature and a firm believer in sustainable development. The problem is that scientists seem to have signed a pact to outdo one [...]
Air Quality Panel Split On WHO Standards
Cheung Chi-fai, SCMP – Updated on Mar 13, 2009 A third of the experts overseeing a government review of air quality objectives believe the standards it is proposing to adopt will not safeguard public health. Campaign group Friends of the Earth polled 15 members of the panel of advisers ahead of a meeting today, at [...]