Innovative database to halve time for environmental impact assessments: Tse Chin-wan

The award-winning "Hong Kong Environmental Database" can shorten the time required for environmental impact assessments (EIAs) by half, according to the Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan.

In his blog on Tuesday (Apr 7), Tse highlighted that the platform developed by the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) can reduce the process to between 15 and 24 months. 

He said the database consolidates decades of the city's environmental data, covering air and water quality, noise, and ecology. It transforms over 300 past EIA reports and other environmental data into more than 200 viewable GIS layers of high-value information that can be searched and compared.

Tse noted that it reforms the process from a passive review of submitted reports to an active provision of data and tools, with access shared among government departments, project consultants, and academics, based on an open and shared principle.

To date, the database has contributed to studies for approximately 200 projects, he added.

The advantages of the smart EIA are particularly significant for long-term, strategic projects facing complex development and conservation challenges, such as the Northern Metropolis.

Tse explained that with the high-resolution data provided by the database, project teams can identify the locations and characteristics of critical ecological environments much earlier. 

This will allow for the optimization of land use from the start of the planning phase, such as reserving ecological corridors to avoid fragmenting important habitats and reducing the risk of irreversible damage to the natural environment.