Establishing a Community Conservation Trust-A Different Way to Sustain Perpetual Conservation    ( 2014/01/16 )

The Baroque on Lamma team has employed an independent consultant to review the whole project and they have provided some practical and constructive suggestions. One of the suggestions was to set up a Community Conservation Trust to manage the proposed conservation corridor. For further information please check the section below for abstracts from the said report. Should you have any comments or suggestions, please feel free to express through enquiry@bol-hk.com.

Establishing a Community Conservation Trust

Vision
Turn the Conservation Corridor into a Community Conservation Trust to secure it in perpetuity for the local community; so as to preserve the natural and environmental integrity of the Conservation Corridor (CC). It has the advantage of being community borne and linking directly with the objective – conservation.

Background
Many environmental NGOs in Hong Kong have been pushing for the mechanism of Conservation Trusts since 2004. However, the idea of a Community Conservation Trust where ownership is directly in the hands of the community is still a new idea to Hong Kong.

Objectives
  • Undertake projects relating to community improvement, conservation and habitat creation and work with other organisations on similar projects so as to broaden knowledge of sustainable community and conservation issues
  • Partner with local organisations with an emphasis on delivering high quality conservation projects within the Conservation Corridor
  • Set up the Trust in form of a charitable organisation, so it can also draw funds from others such as the Jockey Club, and Environment and Conservation Fund, etc.
  • If this model works, it could be duplicated to other areas in Hong Kong in need of conservation protection
How does it work?
As its role is to manage the Conservation Corridor on South Lamma it could be set up as an independent non-profit Hong Kong registered company limited by guaranteeing that it is a charitable entity and managed by a public-private Board or Council, with both the public and private sectors contributing to the start-up fund and the cost of ongoing operations.

Led by a Board or Council, the Trust serves to provide a corporate governing structure and needs to be empowered to conserve and/or preserve, manage, operate and promote conservation initiatives for the benefit of the community.

Examples of Successful Public-Private Partnerships

  1. There are a number of examples of successful Public-Private Partnerships from around the world. One example is that of the 50 hectare Wetland Centre in London, United Kingdom, where three groups formed a partnership to develop a housing and wetland creation and conservation project. The partners are a public water company who owned the land; a private developer who took profits from building and selling the houses on 20% of the site to fund the creation of a wetland on the remaining area of the site by contributing a certain percentage of its profit; and the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, a conservation charity who now manages the wetland for conservation. The London Wetland Centre was opened in May 2000 attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors each year and was voted the Britain's Favourite Nature Reserve 2012.

    More information regarding London Wetland Center:
    http://www.wwt.org.uk/wetland-centres/london/ 
     
  2.  Mata de Sesimbra is the world´s first endorsed One Planet Living Community Resort and is a €1 billion integrated development underway by Greenwoods and brings together a sustainable housing design, nature conservation and forestation program and an eco-friendly transportation concept. The resort is part of an overall project that covers an area of more than 5,300 hectares of which more than 4,800 hectares are planned for the natural forest park – the largest private forest conservation project in Europe – and 500 hectares for a mixed use touristic and real estate program. The environmental conservation and forestation project has been underway for a number of years, and an official land planning permission has already been granted for the resort and for the total development area. Having adopted the Bio-Regional / WWF One Planet Living approach, Greenwoods Eco-resorts is developing the sustainable design and management plans for the key areas of the resort (tourist units, hotels, golf courses, commercial areas and natural landscape parks), supported by the expertise of Foster + Partners and Bio-Regional consultants.

    More information regarding Mata de Sesimbra: 
    1. http://www.oneplanetcommunities.org/
    2. http://wwf.panda.org/








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