Hong Kong's Environmental Sustainability Study: Objectives, Principles, and Methods, Lecture notes of Sustainable Development

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Table of Contents

Chapters

1. Introduction

2. Project Appreciation

3. Approach to the Study

4. Study Management Structure

5. Study Programme

6. Abbrevations

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND

1.1.1 The first Territorial Development Strategy (TDS) was produced in 1984 to establish a broad land use-transport-environment framework to guide the physical development of Hong Kong into the 1990s. Although it had been updated twice in 1986 and 1988 to take account of changing circumstances, it was not until 1990 that a comprehensive review of the TDS was commenced. The technical work of the TDS Review was completed in late 1996 and the report was published in 1998.

1.1.2 Since the completion of the TDS Review in late 1996, some fundamental assumptions underlying the review have become outdated (e.g. population projections, economic growth rates) and some new factors having strategic planning implications have emerged (e.g. China's entry into the World Trade Organisation, the increasing socio-economic interactions between Hong Kong and the Mainland). An updated planning framework is therefore required which will recommend a long-term development strategy (referred to as HK2030) to guide the future development of Hong Kong and to provide a basis for allocating land for various land uses and investment in infrastructure.

1.1.3 The last round of TDS Review, which assumed a maximum population of 8. million by year 2011 identified major environmental problems, and in particular air quality. With further increase in future population, there would undoubtedly be severe additional pressure on our sensitive environment. Without a healthy environment, it is not possible to achieve the long-term vision for Hong Kong to be the world city in Asia as well as the major city in China. It might also affect investment by major international companies in Hong Kong.

1.1.4 Furthermore, given the long time frame of the study (30 years), significant changes in Hong Kong and improvements in the environment are possible through various measures and applications of new technologies. Although there may be uncertainties in the projection over 30 years, such as changes in population, transportation, housing and the provision of other facilities, efforts should be made to assess the potential changes. More importantly, the opportunity should be taken to examine innovative ideas, new technologies, options and measures that could be adopted in the future to bring about continuous and sustainable improvements to Hong Kong's living environment.

1.2 SCOPE OF WORK

1.2.1 Providing a good quality environment is a fundamental building block to enable Hong Kong to become a world city in Asia. Hong Kong also needs to respond to its regional and global environmental responsibilities. We need to establish the required environmental targets in order to achieve a good quality environment meeting people's likely future expectation, and to meet the regional and global environmental responsibilities. Given the potential environmental problems identified in the last TDS review, such as air quality and sewage and waste disposal, it is also necessary to assess our environmental capital or budget for use as a basis, among other factors, for deriving development scenarios and options.

1.2.2 To maintain Hong Kong's long term development sustainability, the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) shall broadly investigate how resources, such as land, energy and materials, could be used in the most efficient way, how the carrying capacity could be increased to cater for future changes, how the increasing demand for resources could be balanced against the limited supply, and to what extent improvement in environmental efficiencies are needed to

potential future environmental problems will also be investigated as part of the Study. The SEA Study Team will participate in the Main Study during the formulation of the development scenarios, options and strategies to ensure proper integration of environmental considerations and improvement measures into the development scenarios, options and strategies.

1.3 INCEPTION REPORT PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES

1.3.1 The Inception Report has been prepared to address the following:

• provides a description of the understanding and appreciation of the objectives to be achieved through the undertaking of the Study as summarised in Section 2;
• provides the approach to be adopted for each of the work tasks and the methodologies to be used to achieve the stated objectives as indicated in Section 3;
• contains information of the SEA Study Team as detailed in Section 4; and
• includes a SEA Study programme in Section 5.

2. PROJECT APPRECIATION

2.1 UNDERSTANDING THE OBJECTIVES

2.1.1 Under the overall goal of conforming to sustainable development principles, the planning objective of the Main Study is to provide a good quality living environment for Hong Kong. To ensure that this is achievable, the usage and demands placed on environmental resources must be balanced against their availability and supply. An integral aspect of the Main Study is therefore a consideration of environmental implications which will be formalised as an SEA. The main objectives of the SEA are given below with a short appreciation of each objective.

a) To establish environmental targets in order to achieve a good quality environment which is in effect a fundamental building block to enable Hong Kong to become a World City in Asia.

2.1.2 Hong Kong is facing considerable environmental challenges including but not limited to:

• how to protect Hong Kong's biodiversity;
• incompatible land uses, air and water pollution, noise and waste disposal problems in the urban areas;
• significant noise from road and rail traffic due to concentrated transport networks, immense housing demand compounded by scarce habitable land, and a lack of environmental concern in the past, as well as the construction noise for residents living near development sites;
• water pollution from expedient connections and squatter houses, which is further exacerbated by the first flush during heavy rainfall, and developments in unsewered areas etc.;
• mutual environmental impact between Hong Kong and its neighbours; and
• significant loss and degradation of heritage sites and their historic environs due to incompatible land uses, planning control and building and landscape design of the rural and urban development areas.

2.1.3 In addition to the on-going effort by the Government to eradicate the existing environmental problems, planning against pollution is the most effective approach to minimise environmental problems in the future. To this end, environmental targets will be essential to guide the future development plans for Hong Kong to become perceived as a World City in Asia. It demands considerable effort and resources to achieve the environmental conditions which would match this objective. This means that realistic targets should be set. The targets should form part of the vital benchmarks for performance of policies, pollution prevention strategies and development initiatives.

b) To assess our environmental and related infrastructures' carrying capacity and the demand that would be generated from future developments, and propose ways for balancing the demand against the limited capacity and for better management of our environmental resources.

2.1.4 The considerable environmental challenges and limited natural and heritage resources available in Hong Kong demand best management of our environmental resources, which are often in conflict with further infrastructure developments

2.2.2 Environmental Targets and Performance Indicators: It is recognised that the environmental targets should have flexibility to accommodate the public's rising aspirations for a better environment, instead of simply trying to set specific numerical targets which could become out of date. So, an early requirement will be to establish agreed environmental targets and performance indicators that are appropriate to a World City in Asia. In this regard, agreements already reached on those indicators and guiding principles in the SUSDEV21 Study may be cost- effectively adopted and others developed. Ideally, it will be desirable that these are agreed for use in the HK2030 Study by all levels of HKSAR Government and also by members of the general public and key stakeholders via public consultation and liaison. However, in the absence of a comprehensive cost analysis, there will be insufficient basis for making any firm decisions.

2.2.3 "Broad-Brush" Environmental Assessment Methodologies and Acceptable Level of Detail: In order to prevent disagreements which could hamper later SEA Study progress, it is essential that the Inception Report describes the SEA methodologies to be used in subsequent SEA Study stage evaluations and strategic environmental assessment of selected options in detail for agreement by the Client. Critically, cumulative assessment methodologies must be aired and agreed early.

2.2.4 Interface with the HK2030 Main Study: It will be essential for the senior members of the SEA Study Team to have regular programmed interface with key members of the Main Study Team in the process of formulation of development scenarios, options and strategies in order to ensure that the whole HK2030 Study progresses both seamlessly and simultaneously taking on board environmental considerations and potential improvements that may eventuate from new environmental pollution control technologies or local or international policy.

2.2.5 Extensive Public Consultation: An essential Project requirement will be to keep Hong Kong's key stakeholders and members of the general public informed about the progress and findings of the Study through extensive public consultation throughout the entire study programme. Concomitantly, it will be necessary to ensure that the outcome of the public consultation can be taken on board, through a feedback mechanism, in subsequent Study stages that will require a built-in flexibility process.

2.2.6 Information Scoping: There is a wealth of information about environmental baselines, capacities and performance indicators. It is essential to identify the key messages encrypted in this information and to use them effectively.

3. APPROACH TO THE STUDY

3.1 RELEVANT REPORTS/STUDIES REVIEW

3.1.1 A constructive interface between this SEA Study and the Main Study will be essential to ensure an integrated planning process. A critical review of previous work in particular the TDSR and reference to SUSDEV21, will be a fundamental requirement.

3.1.2 We will firstly collate the relevant studies to review the information. Discussions with relevant Government departments including PlanD, EPD, CED, EMSD, AMO and AFCD to collect relevant study reports have commenced. The Study Director and Study Manager will circulate the relevant reports/information to Task Leaders and Discipline Specialists for the preparation of SEA reports. The SEA Coordinator will be responsible for coordinating the two-way flow of information between the management team and Task Team Leaders / Discipline Specialists.

3.1.3 To support short, medium and long term planning, the latest technological developments and applications will be considered. Our approach involves deploying a highly experienced and knowledgeable Study Team.

3.2 ASSESSMENT PRINCIPLES AND METHODOLOGIES

3.2.1 The primary objective of the Study is to examine the environmental consequences of development options and plans for Hong Kong up to Year

2030. The ultimate goal is to formulate development strategies which can respond to changes in the short, medium and longer term which will be able to be realised in a sustainable manner taking full cognisance of the strategic implications of the proposals and individual components thereof.

3.2.2 Perceptive and intuitive identification of the key issues and concerns and identification of opportunities for sustainable growth and natural constraints and definition of "no-go" (and perhaps other restrictive land use zoning for environmental / conservation purposes) areas will be pivotal to the successful outcome of the Study.

3.2.3 The Study can essentially be considered as the sum of various parts, as illustrated on Figure 3.1. The first three work tasks underpin the entire Study as the outcomes seek to :

• propose the environmental targets for Hong Kong;
• provide a benchmark for future comparison and assessment of performance of the strategies against the targets set;
• fundamentally incorporate flexibility into the targets so that they can be re-evaluated at different time horizons and can be modified to reflect improvements in pollution control technologies, baseline conditions, policy initiatives and public's rising aspirations;
• determine the environmental framework within which the development scenarios are to be set and in particular with reference to the wider area of influence beyond the boundaries of the SAR; and
• identify constraints on development with respect to environmental

Quality Objectives, the Air Quality Objectives, the Noise Criteria and various standards. In addition to legislative controls in Hong Kong, the PRC legislation (which has a significant influence in the regional context) is comprehensive and encompasses a suite of legislation for sustainable development and its enforcement. Without doubt the controls and regulations are in place with the overarching concept being "not to exceed" the set standards.

3.2.7.5 This Study needs to reach concordance on what are the targets to aim for.

3.2.7.6 In order to answer this question - which is the driver of the Study - we need to examine the current situation, consider past lessons learnt in development and the consequential changes to the environment over the last two decades (and increments thereof), and to explore how other nations tackle the issue of resolving conflicts between economic developments versus environmental protection. Hence, the setting of long-term targets will take into account the international trend/experience in the use of technology for environmental improvement.

3.2.7.7 The proposed approach is to agree with all stakeholders and decision makers exactly what criteria are to be used to define environmental targets. We propose this will be the subject of a "Consensus Building" workshop involving key task leaders with input from the International Panel Review.

3.2.7.8 Before such discussions can commence a review of all relevant literature, and taken from our international database which has been prepared for other similar long-term strategic planning studies will be carried out.

3.2.7.9 Baseline data will make specific reference to that formulated under the TDSR, SUSDEV21 and other strategic assessments which have been carried out for air quality, water quality, waste management and ecological, natural and heritage resources. Updating of the database will be necessary as the Study progresses as information becomes available from the concurrent "Study on Landscape Value Mapping of Hong Kong" and possibly upon the completion of the review of nature conservation policy.

3.2.7.10 Much information already exists, including the historical baselines which can be used to assess the extent of changes in response to developments over say the last 5 or 10 years. Caution must however be exercised when drawing conclusions as there are many factors which influence the environment both directly and indirectly.

3.2.7.11 A comprehensive profile of baseline conditions will be established which will embed current conditions, planned or committed developments, key concerns and international standards. The criteria, which will be established to benchmark the performance of Hong Kong's environment in response to developments, will also be included with reference given to the indicators promulgated in SUSDEV21 and other international standards.

3.2.7.12 Encompassed within the literature review will also be a section on emerging technologies for pollution control and equipment (including minimising and control of pollution at source). This detail will be particularly pertinent when assessing the potential impacts of key components of the development strategies such as road based transport versus rail, and the energy policies (coal fired power stations versus oil fired or nuclear or hydro - further afield in China, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam etc).

3.2.7.13 While the proposing of environmental targets has been set out as Task 1 in the

Study Brief, the Consultants consider it appropriate that Hong Kong's environmental capital/budget as well as the constraints and opportunities should provide essential information and guidance to the setting of targets. Hence, it is proposed that Tasks 2 and 3 should proceed before Task 1. Using the information compiled on the baseline and the international standards and criteria, appropriate environmental targets will be proposed.

3.2.8 Task 2: Baseline Review and Environmental Capital/Budget

3.2.8.1 The baseline review will take cognisance of the Environmental Baseline Report and the four Environmental Survey Reports of SUSDEV21 Study. The sub- division of the components into primary and secondary components and their inter-relationship with the relevant guiding principles will be reviewed and updated to reflect the latest concerns and situations.

3.2.8.2 The findings of the latest strategic assessments on air quality, cumulative updates on water quality and the study into the sources of marine pollution and sediment quality will be included in the data base with an impartial view.

3.2.8.3 Key factors to be taken into account in the update include the influence of the developments in the wider regional and trans-regional context. The information collected by Mott Connell for the Pearl River Delta, on behalf of the World Bank, and that gathered by the cooperative studies between China and the US on regional air pollution using satellite techniques will be considered in the context of the existing information. No new field data will be collected per se but existing data sources, which are available to our team, will be interrogated for this Study.

3.2.8.4 Presentation methods for the database will be agreed with the Client, but could either be via the PlanD GIS system or a dedicated website or Study specific database.

3.2.8.5 SUSDEV 21 identified that natural resources capital stock in Hong Kong is under some threat from future development proposals. Ways to overcome these constraints and to utilise the environmental stock more efficiently have been suggested and will be reviewed in the overall context of the update of the baselines and in light of future development options.

3.2.8.6 Environmental capital stock will be elaborated upon with reference to international standards and reference criteria - all the while taking account of the specific local conditions particular to Hong Kong.

3.2.8.7 Carrying capacity was a concept promulgated through TDSR and used as a means for allocating "budgets" to different forms of pressures and budgets. The definition to be adopted for this Study will be agreed on at the same time as the environmental targets and the relevant strategic indicators will be defined. These will make reference to generic indicators given in SUSDEV 21.

3.2.8.8 Areas for environmental savings, economies and efficiencies will be defined and will be referenced to specific indicators and targets.

3.2.8.9 Elements of environmental capital such as waste disposal facilities are under tremendous pressures at present and it will only worsen in future - unless measures and policies are put in place to alleviate the stresses. Another area where the environmental capital stock is under threat pertains to ecological resources. Provision of a comprehensive nature conservation policy and

options.

Regional Developments

3.2.10.3 Regional developments already have a significant impact on Hong Kong's air quality under the influence of northerly winds and similarly the Pearl River's wet season discharges contribute greatly to the water quality of western Hong Kong waters. In the next thirty years, the scale, extent and consequence of this present influence will increase as the region's economic significance increases and thus it will be necessary to rigorously appraise the changing scale of this effect on Hong Kong's environment in each of the three ten-year-time periods. It will then be necessary to critically identify the necessary actions to be taken by the HKSAR Government to ensure such an influence does not adversely affect Hong Kong's environmental quality and economic potential.

3.2.10.4 The major factors to be considered will primarily be those of trans-boundary effects such as:

• population growth and economic development which will affect the overall water pollution load;
• population and economic development distribution which will have implications on the distribution of water pollution load;
• transport systems and strategies which will affect the overall air pollution emission;
• industrial flue gas emissions from the PRD Region affecting the overall air pollution;
• coastline changes which will affect water flow conditions and therefore water quality;
• developments near the boundary area such as in Deep Bay and Mirs Bay;
• environmental policy and standards in both HKSAR and Guangdong Province; and
• study findings and agreements of Hong Kong-Guangdong Joint Working Group on Sustainable Development and Environmental Protection.

3.2.10.5 Hong Kong also needs to respond to its global responsibility. Attention will be paid to those specific aspects such as the RAMSAR site in the Mai Po and Deep Bay area which is an ecological conservation area of international importance.

3.2.10.6 We will identify the potential implications on Hong Kong's environment in a regional and global sense, and any environmental opportunities offered by the regional developments.

Landscape and Ecological Conservation

3.2.10.7 Hong Kong has a substantial amount of land (approx. 40%) within designated areas of conservation importance. Despite this some significant parts of Hong Kong's ecological resources lie outside these areas such as, for example

various wetlands identified in SUSDEV21. This may be partly because historically, designation of the Country Parks was driven primarily by issues of water catchment, controlling game hunting and providing recreation areas for the public, rather than ecological protection, (Talbot 1965) (although the subsequent designation and statutory purpose of Country Parks are for conservation, recreation and education). In addition to which, many of those ecologically important areas of ecological importance which lie outside of Country Parks area are protected from adverse development impacts via zoning controls under the Town Planning Ordinance.

3.2.10.8 Despite the above, there are still some parts of Hong Kong's ecological resources lying outside the protected areas, such as various wetlands identified in SUSDEV21. At times, there has been considerable conflict between Green Groups and government at a project level partly due to different divergent expectations and since the fact that areas under debate may not be as adequately protected as desired by the Green Groups. This raises the question on whether the current policy framework is sufficient or requires strengthening given the changes in circumstances over the last decade. A review of the nature conservation policy by the EFB is underway which will consider options to better address present day conservation concerns is underway.

3.2.10.9 Marine ecological resources are not as well documented as terrestrial systems and yet, they are a key issue for Hong Kong's future. Land-based activities affect marine environments in a host of direct and indirect ways and the coastline of Hong Kong is under constant pressure as well as being a significant draw-card for the city. The SEA Study Team includes members that actively work and help manage Hong Kong's marine ecological resources, including the fledgling Marine Parks and Reserves. This study will use and build on existing work to ensure that key terrestrial and marine ecological sites are protected.

3.2.10.10 Ensuring a balance between protection of marine and terrestrial ecosystems and further development within Hong Kong will be critical. This can be achieved through protection and habitat enhancement in key areas to increase carrying capacity in these areas and compensate for losses elsewhere. A strategic plan for Hong Kong must include a core ecological component if a more cohesive approach to conservation is to be developed. In this way, valuable ecological resources can be more effectively conserved within a territory-wide planning context. This issue will be critically reviewed by the SEA Study Team as a worthy environmental target. Building upon recommendations of studies such as the Wetland Compensation Study (AFCD) and the Review of Nature Conservation Policy (EFB) will therefore be important.

3.2.10.11 Our approach to the Study will include a consideration of current overseas developments to gauge their usefulness and effectiveness locally. Some of the likely issues are:

• data collection, handling and access;
• Eco-tourism;
• attribution of relative significance to ecological and landscape resources;
• integration of ecological and landscape resource conservation into planning concepts; and

production and use, to disposal; and

3.2.10.19 Integrated Coastal Zone Management (CZM) - a multidisciplinary process which brings all those involved in the development, management and use of the coastal area within a framework which facilitates the integration of their interests and responsibilities, a concept recently adopted internationally to plan all aspects of developments and activities on land and in the sea as an integrated entity.

3.2.10.20 Overarching guiding principles used throughout TDSR which aimed at protection of environmental resources will be reviewed to determine whether or not these are still applicable or have been superseded by more recent studies or events. These include:

• The scale and type of developments should be commensurate with the environmental and infrastructure thresholds.
• Committed and planned infrastructure should be optimised wherever possible to avoid creation of new interface issues (or bad neighbours in the case of sewage treatment plants for example).
• Preference should be given to high-density concentrated development in the Metro area as this increases efficiency in use of facilities/infrastructure.
• Emphasis being placed on rail-based developments for moving people and goods around and off roads.
• Providing opportunities for "cleaning up" those areas where uncoordinated development has burgeoned over the last decade (e.g. in the New Territories where the new towns are springing up adjacent to container storage yards).
• Providing a choice of developments to satisfy a broad range of requirements for residential, commercial, industrial and transport needs.
• Enhancing the roles of each sub-region in the broader context - which are reflected in the sub-regional plans completed or under preparation.

3.2.10.21 By means of an environmental indicator system which will be further elaborated in Task 5 and through the identification and examination of key environmental issues, we will also be able to draw up a list of best practices ranking. A list to suggest the environmentally friendly strategic options (including strategic physical development, policy, institutional and technology options, features, measures and principles) that could potentially enhance the environmental conditions and facilitate achievement of the environmental targets, in particular for those areas where improvements in environmental efficiency are needed, will be recommended.

3.2.10.22 We will participate actively in the Main Study in formulating the development options to ensure proper integration of the identified environmentally friendly options in the formulation, development and refinement of the development scenarios, options and strategies under the Main Study.

3.2.11 Task 5: Strategic Environmental Performance of Development Options

3.2.11.1 From this Task, we will produce a qualitative ranking of the development options to be examined in terms of their strategic environmental performance, so that preferred options can be identified for further detailed assessment. A broad-brush assessment of the strategic environmental performance is therefore sufficient for the purpose and will be carried out, based on the environmental targets, baseline and capacity established from Tasks 1 and 2 with a focus on the key issues as identified from Tasks 3 and 4. Both direct and indirect impacts of implementing each of the development options will be assessed, taking into account the level of detail in the development options.

Performance Indicator System

3.2.11.2 For this purpose, the deployment of a comprehensive indicator system of environmental performance is a most effective approach, and will be developed specifically for this Study. At the very beginning of the indicator system development, we will initiate a consultation process with PlanD, EPD and other relevant Government departments, organisations and the Main Study Team in particular. It is recognised that the development of such a system requires sound information and specialist input from all relevant environmental disciplines including for example, management of C&D materials. It is also recognised that there is a wealth of information about environmental performance. It is essential to identify the key messages encrypted in this information and to use them effectively. We will interrogate our knowledge databases accumulated from our previous relevant studies. Reference will be made to TDSR, ESDSTTI, SUSDEV21, and those recently completed or on- going relevant studies as well as the environmental indicator systems which have been successfully developed and applied elsewhere. We will also draw on our extensive international experience and the principles of Environmental Performance Evaluation Guidance Standards (e.g. ISO14031) in evaluating the performance of development options. Particular attention will be paid to the following aspects in the development of the indicator system so that it is:

• comprehensive to incorporate all major environmental factors;
• sensitive to distinguish the significant difference between different options;
• robust to achieve consistency in option evaluation;
• simplistic to allow for speed evaluation;
• compatible with CASET; and
• flexible so that it can be easily expanded for future needs.

3.2.11.3 We recognise the limitations of such an indicator system that many inputs of the system will have to rely heavily on individual's judgement. To this end, we will take full advantage of our expertise in specialist disciplines and knowledge databases, with further detailed methodologies described below.

Air Quality Impact

3.2.11.4 The environmental performance of the base case and the development options will be assessed using a number of indicators defined in the SUSDEV21 Study.

3.2.11.5 For air, these indicators are a composite index for criteria air pollutants based on percentage of the Air Quality Objectives, a composite index for toxic air pollutants based on percentage of acceptable risk, and quantity of carbon

3.2.11.12 Development options will be assessed using established indicators (the Sustainability Indicators for Biodiversity from the SUSDEV 21 Study as included in the revised list of indicators after the review by the SDU). Further indicators may be derived after discussions with relevant parties during the Study.

3.2.11.13 Development options will be ranked and problematic areas identified. Ecological impacts will be flagged and issues that need to be addressed at detailed EIA studies will be specifically listed.

3.2.11.14 The established indicators will be Area of Hong Kong of High Terrestrial Ecological Value, Area of Hong Kong of High Marine Ecological Value, Area of Managed Terrestrial Habitat for Conservation, and Area of Managed Marine Habitat for Conservation.

Cultural Heritage and Landscape Impacts

3.2.11.15 Particular focus will be placed on landscape and cultural heritage resources that will be affected by development options. The Study Team will identify both acceptable and unacceptable landscape and cultural heritage impacts and recommend mitigation measures. These impacts will be identified utilising the following general methodology:

• identify landscape and cultural heritage resources that will be affected by development options;
• access the integrity and conditions of the landscape and cultural heritage resources; and
• predict the change based on level of details of the development options.

3.2.11.16 The cultural heritage indicators proposed by SUSDEV21 for use in CASET applications may require expansion in order that they can reflect the scale and status of the cultural heritage capital and its sensitivities. A methodology will be developed, with the agreement of AMO, to produce quantifiable indicators not only of heritage resource sustainability but also benefits.

Hazard Assessment

3.2.11.17 A review of the existing PHI QRAs will be undertaken in connection with the proposed development potential for areas or strategies. The implications for development within the Consultation Zones will be summarised, in light of the individual PHI strategic plans identified previously. It must be emphasised that there will be no detailed assessment of each PHI site as this is beyond the scope of this strategic study. Rather the intention is to determine the potential for releasing land within the Consultation Zones as part of the appraisal of the development strategies/scenarios. We will consult the Government and relevant industry to establish long term strategic plans for PHI sites which may constrain future development options. Opportunities to reduce the number of PHI sites, for example via use of safer technologies, amalgamation of sites, and importing materials from the Mainland rather than having a local storage site will be identified and evaluated in broad terms.

3.2.12 Task 6: Refinement of Development Options

3.2.12.1 This is a key stage of this Study where findings, conclusions and recommendations of SEA are integrated into the Option Refinement. From the environmental capacity, future environmental targets and the potential environmental impacts, we will then be able to identify the critical aspects for

each development option with regard to its potential environmental risks or poor environmental performance.

3.2.12.2 We will conduct consultations at this stage with the Main Study team with a view to identifying measures to improve environmental performance and assessing the technical feasibility and practicalities of the measures. The refined options will be re-tested using the Performance Indicator System developed from Task 5 to confirm effectiveness of the refinement. As this could involve several rounds of discussions and re-testing, the adoption of an iterative process will be the approach where necessary.

3.2.13 Task 7: Strategic Environmental Performance of Development Strategies

3.2.13.1 We will conduct an assessment of the preferred development options. A rigorous Performance Evaluation will be made for the preferred options formulated from Task 6. This is analogous to the steps undertaken by the Project Manager in the ESDSTTI (which was based on the relevant guidance of Agenda 21).

3.2.13.2 Wherever possible, the impacts, benefit, costs and risks of the preferred options will be quantified using the state-of-the-art tools such as the Updated Model (developed from CWQHE and currently being used by Hyder) which will be deployed for water quality assessment. For the assessment reference will be made to the EIAO. However, unlike a conventional EIA, we will focus on the identification of environmental sustainability, feasibility, specific concerns, constraints and opportunities. Our assessment will include both direct and indirect effects from implementing the development options and will consider secondary, cumulative, short and long-term, permanent and temporary, positive and negative effects.

3.2.14 Task 8: Strategic Environmental Action Plan and Programme

3.2.14.1 Based on the findings and conclusions from the above tasks, we will draw up Action Plans for each of the three time horizons which will provide an environmental guideline for the implementation of the preferred development options for all stakeholders involved. The issues such as policies, further investigations, expenditure and prerequisites will be included and particular reference will be made to the ESDSTTI, the only Environmentally Sustainable Development SEA in Hong Kong.

3.2.14.2 The Action Plan will include a Strategic Environmental Monitoring and Audit Plan with focus on the evaluation of how well the preferred development options are performing with regard to the environmental targets and benchmark and set of environmental constraints as established and identified above. The concept in the environmental management systems such as EMAS and ISO14001 will be followed in the preparation of the Strategic Environmental Monitoring and Audit Plan.