Pollution in Hong Kong has increased dramatically in the decade since the territory was handed back to China, an environmental group said Thursday. Friends of the Earth said haze blanketed the city on more than twice as many days last year than in 1997, when the former British colony reverted to Chinese rule.
Hong Kongers also produced more rubbish and used more water and electricity in 2006 than 10 years ago despite a relatively small increase in population, according to research carried out by the group.
"Hong Kong's population has only increased by 5.9 percent in the past decade. But waste production, electricity and water consumption have all seen double digit increases," said Edwin Lau, director of the group in Hong Kong. Lau said the figures showed the government was failing to live up to the sustainable development principles it claimed to espouse for the Asian financial hub of almost seven million people. "The government is too focused on the economy at the expense of environmental and social issues," he said.
Lau said the most worrying trend was the deteriorating air quality which was harming the city's reputation abroad. The international airport and the rest of the city suffered haze on one in three days last year compared with just one in nine in 1997.
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