HONG KONG: Who's who in the green movement

KOWLOON — "One of the main campaigns being carried out by Greenpeace Hong Kong is against pollution in Hong Kong harbour, as well as river and air pollution", Kevin Li, a member of the International Rivers Network and Greenpeace Hong Kong, told Green Left Weekly on July 25.

The history of the environment movement goes back 40 years to when the Conservation Association was formed to fight pollution. Seven million people live in a tiny area on the island, and the industrial areas are very close to the residential areas and are heavily polluted. In the late-1970s, Friends of the Earth (FoE) and the World Wide Fund for Nature were founded, mainly by foreigners and with little involvement from local grassroots activists.

In 1980, Greenpower formed. It promoted a green lifestyle, including vegetarianism and simple living. Because there was little political awareness, in the 1990s the corporations were able to coopt the green movement to promote "green awareness" to increase tourism.

During this time, residents on Tsing Yi Island, near Kowloon, who were living alongside thousands of oil drums and heavily polluted air and sea, formed an organisation to fight for the removal of the drums. One of the leaders of that movement was elected to the legislature, but the oil drums are still there.

A more recent issue is the construction of the Daya Bay nuclear power plant in China. It was built by the Chinese government and financed by the Hong Kong Electricity Company to supply power to Hong Kong. There were protests in Hong Kong but the plant went ahead.

The Hong Kong government gives funds to the official green movement except for Greenpeace and FoE. In exchange for this, the mainstream movement does not protest against the destruction of wetlands and supports the proposal for a "green tax".

Greenpeace is campaigning against the Three Gorge Dam being built on the Yangsi River in China. It will be the biggest dam in the world and will displace 2 million people.

Another worrying development is the growing of genetically modified soya beans, cotton and rice. It is not known the extent of the acreage of GM crops because no information is being made available from China. However, it is known that the Chinese government is pushing GM crops.

BY ROBYN MARSHALL

From GLW issue 414