Volunteers mobilized through Nature Rescue, a mobile app jointly launched by Sun Hung Kai Properties Limited (SHKP) and Green Power, rolled up their sleeves to participate in clean-up events again as the pandemic eases in Hong Kong.  Since October, nearly 450 people, half of them young people, have joined 11 coastal and countryside clean-ups held at weekends and collected about 900 kg of waste. The good cause will gain new momentum with the launch of a reward programme for nature lovers. SHKP Love Nature Campaign has also resumed its school activities and production of educational materials to raise students’ awareness of nature conservation.  

SHKP Executive Director Christopher Kwok said: “SHKP practices sustainability in many different aspects of our operations in the spirit of Building Homes with Heart. To support government policies, we also organize a range of community activities to promote healthy, sustainable living, and develop Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategies in the city. These efforts embody our dedication to building a better Hong Kong and fulfilling our corporate social responsibility. Amid class suspensions during the pandemic, the Group produced online educational resources on the ecological environment for primary students and kindergarteners to allow uninterrupted learning. As soon as the pandemic eased, Nature Rescue organized a series of clean-up events and launched a reward programme to promote a green culture to people of all ages.” 

Nature Rescue reward programme

The Nature Rescue mobile app features a comprehensive social networking platform, with functions, such as the Clean-up Checklist, Activity Chatroom and Ecology Classroom, which motivate the public to initiate clean-ups, report rubbish blackspots and protect the environment. Recently Nature Rescue introduced a reward programme to further this worthy cause. Users can earn points, which they can redeem for gold, silver or bronze star badges when they report rubbish blackspots, initiate clean-ups or participate in such activities. The first 50 recipients of bronze star badges will get two tickets to the Sky100 Hong Kong Observation Deck. The 20 users earning the most points will be rewarded with a free guided eco-tour organized by Green Power¹.

The recent clean-ups by the Nature Rescue team have helped a lot. After two No. 8 storm signals in early October, a large amount of marine refuse was washed onto the shore and into river channels. The volunteers collected waste in the mangrove forest in Shui Hau, Lantau Island, and in the area around the rivers and streams in Tai Mo Shan. They carefully removed plastic bags and ropes that were entangled in the mangroves, thus significantly reducing the risk of a variety of coastal organisms (including the endangered horseshoe crabs) swallowing the waste by mistake. In Tai Mo Shan, the volunteers collected more than 90 kg of waste, a record-breaking volume for the Hiking x Eco Clean Up Action. The clean-up will help conserve a large number of fireflies, whose survival hinges on the condition of the rivers and streams.   

In addition to organizing clean-up events, Nature Rescue features an Ecology Classroom. Starting in September this year, the Ecology Classroom was enriched to include titbits about the ecology of the Hong Kong countryside, such as why horseshoe crabs are called ‘living fossils’ and what caused monkeys to thrive in the Kowloon Reservoir area. The aim of the classes is to improve the public’s understanding of ecology, so that they can have more fun hiking and participating in countryside and beach clean-ups.    

Educational enrichment programmes in schools

In the new academic year, SHKP and Green Power have continued to organize activities for youngsters through the SHKP Love Nature Campaign. A green knowledge quiz contest is being held in 40 secondary schools, with more than 1,000 students vying for the championship, whose winners will be announced at the end of the year. The Dr Nature On-The-Go programme, which presents an online puppet show for five kindergartens, is expected to reach over 1,000 children. And the SHKP Love Nature Campaign produces video clips for interactive online learning and other educational materials for kindergarten and primary students.

Nature Rescue, which is part of SHKP’s Love Nature Campaign, has organized over 100 activities and collected more than 11,000 kg of waste since its launch in 2018. For more information on Nature Rescue, please visit http://onelink.to/6nv37y.

¹ Terms and conditions apply. For details, please refer to the Nature Rescue mobile app.