New country and marine parks to open next year

Hong Kong will see two new parks next year, Chief Secretary for Administration Eric Chan Kwok-ki said.

Kicking off a Beautiful Hong Kong campaign yesterday, Chan said Robin's Nest, near Sha Tau Kok, will be site of the 25th country park in the city, while the eighth marine park in Hong Kong will be off north Lantau .

A wildlife corridor is to be built between Robin's Nest country park and Wutong Mountain National Park near Yantian in Shenzhen.

"This [corridor] will help Hong Kong integrate itself into the overall development of the country," he said.

Chan added: "Hong Kong and Shenzhen are in communication over the establishment of the Northern Metropolis. The rich ecological resource is a great advantage to the area's development. We will try our best in urban-rural integration and allow development and conservation to coexist in developing the project."

"The government will also continuously upgrade the facilities of popular hiking tracks and the Hong Kong Wetland Park," Chan added.

Beautiful Hong Kong is a program set up by the Hong Kong Chronicles Institute that consists of activities aimed at boosting ecotourism via writing chronicles on the nature of Hong Kong, organizing ecotours for primary and secondary school students, and more.

It is supported by the culture, sports and tourism and the education bureaus, and organizations such as Ocean Park and Kadoorie Farm.

One of the four main activities of the program is a vote for Hong Kong's top 10 natural scenic spots.

Taking place on the institute's website from now till October 16, locals and tourists can vote for their favored spot and get the chance to win round-trip business class plane tickets for two among other prizes.

Another activity is a ecological tour guide program that takes teenagers on tours about green tourism in the Greater Bay Area and gives them training on being a guide.

Those promoted to stage two of the programs will receive paid on-site training of leading local ecological tours for 1,000 teachers and grassroot students.

The program includes a nature education scheme for primary and secondary school students, who will get a set of reading materials called "Beautiful Hong Kong - a trip into nature" as well as talks, exhibitions and tours.

The institute will invite local and mainland officials, experts, businesses and organizations in the ecological field to the publishing ceremony of its book Hong Kong Chronicle - Nature. They will share their experiences on environmental governance and related issues.