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Following is a question by the Hon Martin Lee and a written reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Edward Yau, in the Legislative Council today (December 5):
Question:
In recent years, it has been found from time to time that some illegal entrants have illegally cut down trees in Hong Kong and transported them to the Mainland for profit. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of cases of illegal felling of trees in each of the past three years, together with a breakdown of the number of trees felled by the species to which they belonged;
(b) among the cases referred to in (a), of the respective numbers of those resulting in the conviction of the offenders, those which took place in country parks, and those involving the species of trees listed on the Register of Old and Valuable Trees;
(c) whether it has reviewed the relevant legislation to see if there is a need to increase the penalty for illegal felling of trees; if so, of the results; and
(d) whether, in the light of the above situation, it will reconsider enacting legislation on tree conservation to enhance the protection of trees; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) In recent years, there have been cases in which trees, mainly Buddhist pines (scientific name: Podocarpus macrophyllus) and incense trees (scientific name: Aquilaria sinensis), were illegally cut down in Hong Kong and transported to the Mainland. In most cases, Buddhist pines were totally uprooted while incense trees were cut into small pieces.
Statistics of the cases involved have been set out in Annex.
(b) Trees were usually recovered while being transported. We are unable to ascertain whether these cases took place in country parks. None of the illegally felled trees was listed on the Register of Old and Valuable Trees.
(c) At present, relevant ordinances on tree protection in Hong Kong
include: Forests and Countryside Ordinance (Cap 96); Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance (Cap 132) and its subsidiary legislation; Crimes Ordinance (Cap 200); Country Parks Ordinance (Cap 208) and its regulation; and Theft Ordinance (Cap 210).
According to the above ordinances, any person who vandalises or damages a tree, including felling a tree illegally, shall be fined and/or imprisoned. At present, offenders being prosecuted are liable to a maximum penalty of ten yearsˇ¦ imprisonment. The penalty set out in the relevant legislation is appropriate and has a deterrent effect on the
offenders. Therefore, we have no intention to increase the penalty at present.
(d) The legislation and administrative measures currently in force are comprehensive and effective for protecting trees on government and private land. Therefore, we have no intention at the moment to enact legislation on tree conservation. Nevertheless, we will closely monitor and review the effectiveness of existing tree protection measures and will formulate improvement measures where necessary.
Ends/Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Issued at HKT 15:01
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