Going, going gone, while the government looks on.
The Sorry Tale of the Yung Shue Long Valley.
The tale of the destruction of natural habitat in the Yung Shue Long Valley dates back to 2003 and proposals by the Drainage Services Department (DSD) to construct a nullah up the valley from the seashore.
Despite objections from local residents, who also questioned whether the design of the drain would cause sea water to flow up the valley, this plan went ahead. The result was the concreting of a wide area at the bottom of a lush, green valley.
The stream, where children once came to watch the fish, is now a concrete basin surrounded by ugly metal railings. The seawater does indeed back up, leaving behind all manner of rubbish and silt, which over time smells of sewerage. A dead cat has even been washed up there. At times the steep sided nullah is deep in black water, which could prove lethal should a child fall in.
In March this year, workers acting for a local landowner removed government railings and began dumping construction waste on adjacent land just upstream from the DSD’s project.
Local residents were quick to contact government departments and the police. Since then the dumping has continued. It has completely buried a lily pond, destroyed a breeding ground for the protected Romer’s tree frog, partially obstructed a stream and blocked drainage from the neighbouring fields, which are farmed to produce vegetables sold locally.
Though the waste is largely construction rubble, bits of old pipe, plastic bottles and cans, toilets, and other matter are clearly visible. This has obliterated an area of natural beauty and created an eyesore, which a large number of local residents have to suffer.
Living Lamma was initially set up in response to the spoiling of the Yung Shue Wan valley. The group submitted a paper to Legco and gave evidence to the Panel on Combating Fly-tipping in early May.
So far there has been no effective response from government departments. We’re still waiting for the outcome of the Legco Panel’s work.
The Government’s Response
The EPD can only “investigate whether the dumping activity has created any air and noise problems, whether there is any polluted water discharging from the site and whether it constitutes illegal waste disposal.” In this case, under current legislation, they can do nothing to stop the dumping, or prevent other such dumping elsewhere on Lamma.
The DSD has investigated and concluded that the flow capacity of the concrete pipe that the landowner has placed in the stream at the site was “not sufficient to cater for the quantity of flow that the downstream [DSD] engineering channel was designed for.” The DSD have not promised any action other than to monitor the situation.
The AFCD were informed that Romer’s tree frogs (pictured below), a protected species, had been heard at the site before the dumping. AFCD said that the landowner had not technically violated the Wild Animals Protection Ordinance because he did not “willfully disturb” the habitat of the Romer’s tree frogs. Furthermore, AFCD assessments for species listed under the Wild Animals Protection Ordinance are only undertaken within country parks or other protected areas, or on large-scale developments, not on Lamma. AFCD informed the Lands Department and the Environmental Protection Department that Romer’s tree frogs breed at the site but the dumping continues.
The District Lands Office issued an advisory letter, posted at the site on 27th March 2009, which asked the owner “to be more considerate” and to stop dumping. This was simply ignored.
The Planning Department said that Lamma Island is not designated as a development permission area, so they could not act to protect agricultural land from dumping. Though the Lamma Island Outline Zoning Plan states that the filling of land with C&D materials can not be undertaken without permission from the Town Planning Board, the Planning Department has said that,
“There is no provision for undertaking enforcement action under the Town Planning Ordinance on Lamma Island.”
On Lamma, it seems that the Environmental Protection Department cannot protect the environment, the Drainage Services Department cannot act against someone who affects the flow capacity of their drains, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department cannot defend agriculture or protected species, the Lands Department can only ask people who cause nuisance to others and destroy agricultural land to be nice, and the Planning Department cannot enforce its own planning codes. And meanwhile the dumping continues.
At the meeting of the Legislative Council’s Sub-committee on Combating Fly-tipping on May 7th, Living Lamma asked that urgent action be taken to protect ALL land zoned for agricultural use in Hong Kong by prohibiting the dumping of all waste, save for the depositing of soil for the purposes of agriculture. We called for measures to be taken to prevent dumping and for heavy fines to be imposed and reinstatement orders to be made against those guilty of dumping on agricultural land. So far no action has been taken.
