It shows us how much more appealing Hong Kong can be, and most importantly, it suggests how much a role trees can play in giving us a healthier life. It also tells us that we have the means and the skill to make Hong Kong one of the most verdant cities in the world. It is not difficult particularly because of our climate, and in spite of rocky soil and our terrain.

To some of us who are deeply concerned with the environment it may seem an impossible task because our administration is suffering from a seemingly incurable disease - inertia.

They cannot move themselves to introduce laws that will protect our trees. In this respect the only good thing that can be said about our administration is it has very strong roots. They go back to prehistoric times when anybody who felt the urge could just chop down a tree.

The only time in living memory when the administration was moved to protect a tree was when an over- burdened branch of the Wishing Tree in Tai Po came crashing down. And then only to set up a fence round the tree.

What we need at Tai Po and for trees all over Hong Kong is legal protection. But true to the spirit of inertia, Chief Executive Donald Tsang did not mention a single word about trees or their protection. Clearly this affliction reaches the highest level of government.

Why do we need laws to protect trees? Because we are up against the most powerful force in our city - the developers. They will never allow any tree to stand in their way. If possible they would pour concrete over every square inch of Hong Kong.

In North Point, Michelia Alba (white Champac), Chinese banyans and candlenut trees have been chipped beyond recognition. At Repulse Bay, on a lot leased out on short-term tenancy by the Lands Department, several dozen trees, decades in age, were chopped down. During the construction of a pedestrian walkway at Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital, more than 100 cypress trees were damaged by the contractor and had to be removed. At Greenwood Place in Tuen Mun, 130 trees were damaged or felled by the developer. On a 20,000-square-foot slope bordering Kwun Tung Road at Yuen Long, all trees were chopped down for no apparent reason.

At Braemar Hill, a property management firm chopped down 20 Cajeput trees, orange jasmines and 10 azaleas while at Beacon Hill in Kowloon Tong a developer damaged or destroyed 250 trees. All these happened this year; none with the approval of the Lands Department. They form only a small proportion of the damage done to trees all over Hong Kong year after year.

Tsang declared in his policy address that his aim is to build a harmonious society. I can tell him, with hand on my heart, that on pollution the community is united - with only a few exceptions. The community wants pollution wiped out as quickly as possible.

Everyone, except the developers perhaps, realizes that trees gather up much of the particulates, which we don't want in our lungs instead.

Trees do much more than collect particulates. They make our city more liveable. They reduce noise and glare. They stabilize soil, preventing landslips. More trees can help to cool down our city and reduce reliance on air- conditioning, not to mention softening the harsh concrete that is all around.

From this perspective we can easily see the need for laws to protect trees to protect ourselves. In particular our health.

Why is it so difficult for the administration to understand this? When was the last time our chief executive took a walk through Victoria Park?

Choy So-yuk is the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong spokesperson on environmental affairs