More than 140 environmental experts and government officials from the mainland and the Hong Kong SAR gathered at the OUHK recently to look into cross-border environmental issues and examine ways of controlling pollution.

Hong Kong convenor of the 'China Mainland-Hong Kong Symposium on Regional Environmental Impact Assessment', OUHK Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, Dr Ho Kin-chung said, 'many environmental problems have to be tackled at a regional level. For example, the construction of the Shenzhen-Hong Kong superhighway, the protection of Chinese White Dolphins as well as the sewage treatment plan are all related to cross-border policies on environmental protection.'

'The legislation and technologies concerning cross-border environmental impact assessment are yet to be fully developed. Concerted efforts have to be made to establish a set of assessment standards for common use,' he elaborated.

The symposium was held from May 5-7 and was sponsored by the Croucher Foundation.