Jane Goodall once said, “Only if we understand, will we care. Only if we care, will we help. Only if we help shall all be saved.” As a conservationist and ecologist, Jane Goodall acknowledges the great importance of understanding our nature before actually protecting and conserving it. Research is one of the many ways to better understand nature and is essential to constructing conservation policies and education programmes. 

 

Hong Kong has long been the Central Business District of Southern Asia, having business and tourism as the main industries. During the first stages of development in the 19th century, scientific research was not as popular or common in Asian regions, nonetheless the concepts of conserving and protecting the environment. Therefore, when the concerns about nature started to come around, especially after the worldwide publication of Silent Spring by Rachel Carson in 1963, Hong Kong’s government started trying to shift the policies to a more sustainable way. As technology advances and education becomes compulsory for all youngsters, the education of science and research was implemented into the education syllabus, training future researchers and scientists. However, due to the prolonged emphasis on tourism and business in the past decades, Hong Kong’s starting point of scientific development and research is much later than nearby regions, and thus not as valued by most Hong Kongers. Looking at statistics related to Research and Development (R&D) by the government, we see that the number of personnel has been increasing steadily in the past decade. Research has become more and more widespread, including research projects on the environment and ecology. 

 

Looking back in time

 

In the past, the government of HKSAR has implemented different policies and funds to support the R&D industry. According to the report by the Hong Kong Institution of Science, the government of HKSAR has contributed to the R&D industry in many ways. The first method is to attract mature enterprises focusing on scientific development into Hong Kong’s market. By improving and expanding the Hong Kong Science and Technology Park, different corporations are more attracted to station in Hong Kong, aiding the future R&D field in the city. Despite attracting mature corporates, the government and various organizations also provide funding to pioneer research teams, hoping to recruit a new generation of scientists that will contribute to the R&D industry in the long run. In order to sustainably develop the R&D industry, the government has to ensure a steady income of professionals, and continue to train younger generations, so that Hong Kong’s value and significance as a city could be further boosted. To recruit young scientists, tertiary education is crucial as youngsters are able to become more specialised in the subjects they are learning, especially in Universities. By encouraging research projects and programmes in tertiary education organizations, the government also aims to recruit more talents in the R&D field.

 

For instance, the University of Hong Kong once conducted a research project to study the Romer’s Tree Frog (Liuixalus romeri). Listed in the IUCN red list as an endangered species at the time of the research project, HKU took the initiative to study this native species of Hong Kong. With its uniqueness and ecological significance, Romer’s Tree Frog has been considered the symbol of Hong Kong’s ecology for a long period of time. HKU participated in a captive breeding programme in the early 90s to conserve the population of such species, aiming to release them after captive breeding and restore its natural population, at the same time conserving nature as a whole. The presence of Romer’s Tree Frog was recorded on different outlying islands in Hong Kong and was once thought to be extinct. Yet years later there was a rediscovery of the species on other islands. Upon their rediscovery, HKU has been carrying out continuous surveys on Romer’s Tree Frog, aiming to conserve the species and protect it in the long run. 

 

From Romer’s Tree Frog’s example, the importance of institutional research is indeed crucial to the conservation of the ecology and species of a region. Without understanding the status and situation of the species, no suitable conservation policies could be suggested or implemented. Therefore, research is indeed extremely important in conservation.

 

Challenges we are facing

 

Currently, the R&D industry in Hong Kong is only developing at a relatively low speed. As aforementioned, Hong Kong’s main industry has been business and tourism for a very long time, and to a certain extent, this contradicts with the research and conservation of ecology and nature. Due to consumerism and the production of wastes in the tourism industry, the environment is unavoidably disturbed and polluted. Even though the government has been trying to shift the city’s focus on sustainable development with more emphasis on scientific research, the incentive of citizens is still low. Also, one may always hear from a Hong Kong parent claiming that there is no future for scientists in Hong Kong. This claim also highly reflects that the R&D industry is not as valued, and prospective youngsters might be hindered due to the not-as-welcoming atmosphere of the R&D industry. However, we could also observe that things are getting improved. For instance, the promotion of STEM core values in primary and secondary schools are integrating science into students’ daily lives, aiming to increase their exposure to science, and eventually achieving the aim to promote the R&D industry. With the change in focus and emphasis of the younger generation, the R&D industry of Hong Kong in the future may be more well-developed, with an influx of young talents. 

 

Resources are also important for promoting the R&D industry. Other than funding, scientists and talents from overseas are also crucial to the development of the R&D industry. Funding is not a big problem when investors started acknowledging the importance of research and science in modern society, and currently, there are already a certain number of corporates or organizations providing funding to research teams to carry out research projects, especially on environmental and ecological conservation. However, the city will require an influx of foreign talents, not only to improve the quality of Hong Kong’s developing R&D projects but also to make the industry in Hong Kong a more international one. Hong Kong may make use of the connections obtained from the business industry and recruit talents from other regions, creating a more diverse base of researchers, and giving Hong Kong’s R&D industry a more global and worldwide view.

 

Looking into the future

 

Education has a job well done on promoting science and the R&D industry and could be reflected from the increase of students interested in taking Science as their life-long learning subject. As observed from our society’s statistics on the number of members, we see that the number of freshmen interested in ecology, as well as researching on ecology, has been increasing steadily. With a larger base of interested students and possible talents, increased research on the ecology and thus improved conservation of nature are foreseeable. With Hong Kong’s increasing status in the R&D industry worldwide, through innovative forums or campaigns, it is foreseen that the exchange of knowledge and thus the development of research in Hong Kong would flourish, and I look forward to seeing the mature R&D industry in the near future.