Five sessions were held on April 1, Day 2 of the Macao International Environmental Cooperation Exhibition and Forum (2011MIECF) (April 1). Government officials, experts and scholars from Mainland China, Europe, United States, Macao and Hong Kong presented their experience in the development of low-carbon cities and also debated about the latest environmental issues.
In the “Urban Planning and Eco City Development” session, Ms. Liu Chunyan, Section Chief of the Department of Planning and Finance, Ministry of Environmental Protection of the PRC said that the rapid urbanization and industrialization of China will inevitably lead to environmental imbalance, but that the Chinese Government attaches great importance to environmental protection. To this end, it is clearly stated in the 12th 5-Year Plan the need to pay close attention to emission reduction, improve the quality of the environment and prevent environmental risks.
Mr. Joe Fong, Senior Environment Protection Officer, Cross Boundary International Group, Environmental Department of Hong Kong SAR Government, says that Hong Kong has already implemented a long-term energy conservation plan, which includes the application of the energy-saving labelling system for energy equipment installed in the commercial buildings, given that these buildings consume relatively more energy. He believes that this regulation will help to reduce the amount energy consumption in commercial buildings by 50%.
Ms. Luísa Pinheiro, Deputy Director of Portuguese Environment Agency, and Ms. Jennivine Kwan, Vice President, International, US Green Building Council, talked about regional cooperation in environmental protection and also the setting-up of “Green Schools”.
Speakers in the “Low Carbon Urban Industries: Sustainable Tourism”, discussed on how to implement the development sustainable tourism from different perspectives. Ms. Gorild Heggelund, UNDP´s Senior Climate Change Advisor, China Office, presented the current situation of climate change in China and pointed out that the challenges that China is facing at the moment include demographic, ecological, food safety, water, energy and urbanization issues.
Mr. Xu Qing, Deputy Director of Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau gave the example of the 2008 Beijing Olympics to share the experience of holding a “Green Olympic”. He said that Beijing is a located in a drought plain where pollution is difficult to spread out, and that consumption is great due to its large population, which result in composite and compressed pollution. In this connection, Beijing implemented a series of emission reduction works, especially in the sports venues and other related areas. With regards to the sports venues, solar energy and geothermal renewable energy sources were used for hot water, lighting and air conditioning, in the planning of the venues. Mr. Xu added that Beijing has actively used natural gas and electricity to replace the traditional coal for power or heating, increased the intensity in the development of rail transport and eliminated cars using the old emission standards, improved high polluting factories and upgraded the environmental specifications of the construction sites and promoted conservation tillage. As a result of the implementation of these policies, during the Beijing Olympics, the city were able to enjoy quality air. Furthermore, according to the comments and feedback received from the United Nations Development Programme, the air quality standard even exceeded the level committed at the bidding of the 2008 Olympic Games, and therefore Beijing residents, all athletes and visitors to the city were able to enjoy fresher air.
Mr. Xu Qing added that the Beijing Municipality continues to pursue the “Green Olympic” concept and that it is currently promoting the Green Beijing Action Plan, via three great areas, namely Green Production, Green Consumption and Ecological Environment. The implementation of this action plan will result in the Chinese capital, which every year receive a large number of tourists, enjoying a greener environment.
In addition to non-government organizations and national institutions, the business sector could also contributes to green tourism. Mr. Hiran Cooray, Chairman, Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), gave the example of hotels in Sri Lanka to explain how to create sustainable development in hotel business, and also pointed out that the reduction of emission is an absolutely profitable exercise for enterprises.
Also, Mr. Guo Zhan, Vice President, ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments & Sites) and Mr. Renato Roldão, Chief Representative Officer, Ecoprogresso in Beijing, discussed on to develop sustainable tourism development from different perspectives and shared their experience with the audience.
Scientific testing has proved that high-rise modern building poses serious problems because of carbon emission. In this regard, in “Green Buildings: Foundation of a Low Carbon Future” session, the speakers demanded for green buildings. IBM´s representative, Ms. Lisa Hopkins, believes that as long as buildings have a good data energy system to optimise the treatment of energy, waste and emissions, energy saving targets are achievable.
Wind and solar power are hailed as clean energies and many environmental experts also consider them as the hope of future global energy. Mr. Chung-Ming Kwan, Senior Smart Grid Development Manager, CLP Power, Hong Kong, speaking in the “Clean Energy & Smart Grid” session, said that CLP Power has spared no efforts in the development of clean energy, renewable energy and battery. He added that at present, CLP has built a renewable energy power station in the southeast of the Hong Kong Island, to explore its feasibility. Mr. Shu-Mao Wang, Former Executive Director of the Project Management Office of the National Development and Research Commission of the PRC/World Bank/Global Environment Facility, said that due to its high cost, wind power is not economically efficient. He also pointed out that the three major barriers to energy conservation are, awareness obstacles, technical obstacles and technological obstacles. He further stressed that once we could overcome these obstacles, the above problems can be solved.
For further enquiries, please contact the MIECF Secretariat at telephone (853) 8798-9675, fax (853) 2872-7123, e-mail miecf@ipim.gov.mo, or navigate the following official MIECF website: www.macaomiecf.com
