A Hong Kong think tank has placed a money value of HK$6.5 billion (US$833 million) on the benefits accrued to Hong Kong through protection of natural resources such as the marine and forest ecosystem as well as 23 suburban gardens set up by the Hong Kong government, with an area of 415.82 square km (160 square miles), or 40 percent of Hong Kong’s total area.
The research report -- entitled Never Priceless: Nature Conservation of Hong Kong in Economic Perspective and prepared by the Civic Exchange of Hong Kong (an independent, non-profit think tank established to promote civic education, public awareness and participation in governance by strengthening civic participation in public life) -- offers both direct and indirect use values of natural resources in Hong Kong.
One of the report writers, a woman surnamed He, said the value of the protection of nature is usually underestimated and overlooked by people since it is very difficult to put a price tag on a sound ecosystem. This report, she added, helps heighten people’s awareness of the high value of nature.
Direct use value includes HK$4.1 billion (US$525 million) in ecosystem tourism, HK$1.4 billion (US$180) in outdoor entertainment, and HK$200 million (US$25 million) in fishing.
Indirect value includes HK$800 million (US$103 million) in forest preservation. Moreover, the benefits of mangrove recycling pollutants, alleviating flood and wooing foreign direct investment can’t be quantified.
The estimated HK$6.5 billion was just the quantified value of the natural resources under protection, Ms He emphasized, and does not reflect the value of those aspects of natural resources hard to calculate -- the pleasure and other benefits nature gives human beings, for example.
(Xinhua News Agency on March 20, 2002 and translated by Guo Xiaohong March 30, 2002)
