Following is a question by the Hon Albert Chan and a written reply by the Secretary for Development, Mrs Carrie Lam, in the Legislative Council today (June 11):
Question:
I have learnt that the Government is currently conducting a territory-wide registration exercise for trees in Hong Kong. In this connection, will the Government provide information on the existing trees in Hong Kong according to the following table?
| Age of | Tree | Local | Quantity | Distribution |
| Tree | species | species | ||
| (years) | or not | |||
| ----------- | ----------- | ----------- | ----------- | ----------- |
| 20 or below | ||||
| 21 to 30 | ||||
| 31 to 40 | ||||
| 41 to 50 | ||||
| 51 to 60 | ||||
| above 60 |
Reply:
Madam President,
Given that woodland in Hong Kong covers an area of over 200 square kilometres and trees are widely distributed in various districts, Government has no plan nor resources to register all trees in Hong Kong. Nor there is a need to do so. However, to provide better protection to trees with special value, we have established a Register of Old and Valuable Trees to record trees fulfilling the following criteria:
| * | Large size (diameter at breast height of 1,000 mm or over / height at 25 m or over / spread of 25 m or over in diameter); |
| * | Precious or rare species; |
| * | Age over 100 years; |
| * | Cultural, historical or memorable significance; or |
| * | Outstanding form. |
The Register has been uploaded to the website of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (address: www.lcsd.gov.hk) for public inspection. At present, there are 525 trees on the Register, of which 352 belong to local species, such as Chinese banyan, big-leaved fig and camphor tree. Distribution of these trees in various districts is set out as follows:
| District | No. of | No. of |
| Local | Exotic | |
| Species | Species | |
| --------------- | ----------- | ----------- |
| Central | ||
| & Western |
81 |
47 |
| Wan Chai |
13 |
13 |
| Eastern |
24 |
15 |
| Southern |
17 |
22 |
| Sham Shui Po |
9 |
8 |
| Yau Tsim Mong |
94 |
17 |
| Kowloon City |
11 |
2 |
| Wong Tai Sin |
8 |
2 |
| Kwun Tong |
1 |
3 |
| Islands |
4 |
1 |
| Tuen Mun |
3 |
2 |
| Yuen Long |
3 |
5 |
| Kwai Tsing |
7 |
3 |
| Tsuen Wan |
2 |
4 |
| North |
40 |
19 |
| Tai Po |
18 |
3 |
| Sha Tin |
12 |
6 |
| Sai Kung |
5 |
1 |
| -------- |
-------- |
-------- |
| Total |
352 |
173 |
For the trees in the above table, 11 trees are estimated to age over 100 years basing on available documents. Age records for the other trees are not available.
Ends/Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Issued at HKT 12:56