HKBWS Chuan

Dear Birders,

Po Toi needs your help!

Developers of the columbarium at Po Toi applied to the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) to register the site as an existing columbarium under the “Private Columbaria Bill” in June of this year.  Around this time, there were reports of the suspicious activities of cutting down shrubs and marking down numbers on the stones to create the illusion they were in operation.  If their application is approved, it could be a step forward towards reviving this project.

Click here to see today’s news report:
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-ko ... -recognition-po-toi

Po Toi is currently protected from development under the Development Permission Area (DPA) plan but this plan will expire in early 2015 when the Town Planning Board reviews the land use at Po Toi by assigning an Outline Zoning Plan (OZP).  This OZP sets the long-term land use zones and development parameters of the area.  The Town Planning Board will review the existing conditions of the area to decide what land use zonings are appropriate, so this means if a site is degraded, it is more likely to be given a development-permitted zoning.

Also, if the developer’s application to FEHD approved, this would give more justification for the Town Planning Board to zone the site with land use that allows for the columbarium to be developed in the new OZP.

So, in order to help protect Po Toi, the HKBWS needs your help:
-          If you see any suspicious activities (i.e. tree felling, dumping, etc.), please record the location, date and time and take photos of the site
-          Look for rare bird species, especially new Hong Kong records.  Photographs would be highly appreciated

This information gives more evidence as to why Po Toi needs to be protected and will be presented to the Town Planning Board by the HKBWS.

With the migration season coming up, let’s hope for more new records at Po Toi!  The most recent new record was the Rosy Minivet back in April 2014 (http://www.hkbws.org.hk/BBS/redi ... 9&goto=lastpost), so far there has been over 310 species found at Po Toi, that is more than half of the total number of species in Hong Kong!

More information on the “Private Columbaria Bill”
http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/201406/18/P201406180182.htm

HKBWS’s Representation for Draft Po Toi Islands Development Permission Area Plan (DPA/I-PTI/1) (provided to Town Planning Board in 2012)
http://www.hkbws.org.hk/web/chi/potoi/PoToiSSSI_CP_compressed.pdf