Could rising tides put the ‘Venice of Hong Kong’ underwater?
Local environmentalists urge residents to think about the risk their high-energy lifestyles pose to a part of the city most vulnerable to rising tides
Will Hong Kong’s fishing town and popular tourist attraction Tai O become unlivable or even disappear in the coming decades due to sea level rises and extreme weather?
And – whatever ill effects climate change does bring to the town – will the blame lie more with its local residents, or with the city’s power-guzzling urbanites, ferried around by cabs and trains, and kept cool at home by air conditioners?
Those are the questions charity CarbonCare InnoLab wants Hongkongers to think about, especially when they turn on those air conditioners as summer kicks in. The group cites studies saying the fishing village on the west coast of Lantau Island could be the area in the city most affected by climate change.
And Tai O’s vulnerable status is “mainly because of its geographical features,” says Debby Cheng Yi-yi, the charity’s programme director.
“Whenever there’s a typhoon, the flooding situation in low-lying areas of Tai O is more serious than other parts of the city, and climate change could make the matter even worse in the future. So, some scientists have raised a question: will Tai O still exist by the end of this century?”
