30 3 Government Panel on Adaptation and Resilience Hong Kong is well-known for its wetlands in Mai Po and Inner Deep Bay, which is listed as Wetlands of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention.7 In October 2021, the HKSAR Government proposed to establish a Wetland Conservation Parks System (WCPS) of some 2,000 ha to create environmental capacity and to achieve “Co-existence of Development and Conservation”. This concept is part of the Northern Metropolis Development Strategy and is envisaged to contribute to adaptation through flood prevention and coastal protection. Another significant aspect of AFCD’s work was the government’s adoption of a new agricultural policy that included developing an Agri-Park, designating Agricultural Priority Areas, and promoting hydroponic technology and urban farming to enhance the resilience and stability of the food supply systems in light of climate change. Additional measures include: • Agriculture: assisting farmers to increasing productivity and reducing carbon footprint, such as selecting crop varieties which are more adaptive or tolerant to climate change and help farmers to set up greenhouses and rain shelters to protect their crops from extreme weather conditions. • Fisheries: designating new Fish Culture Zones, using WCPS for sustainable aquaculture production, developing storm-resistant deep-sea mariculture system, as well as using technologies to increase fisheries production and enhance resilience against extreme weather conditions. Public sector architectural designs and buildings Architectural Services Department (ArchSD) is the HKSAR Government’s architect. It sets itself out to achieve high environmental standards that illustrates the nexus between mitigation and adaptation. It chooses green construction materials and methods as far as possible, and it designs in features that save energy and water. Many government buildings receive high rating under the local green building environmental assessment scheme, BEAM Plus. This section will not go into details about the many climate mitigating outcomes of public buildings, but it is important to highlight those aspects relating to adaptation and resilience. ArchSD operates under three core strategic directions (3As): • Accurate: It conducts performance-based analysis, such as wind, daylight and solar analyses, to shape architectural designs to optimize energy saving and minimise impacts of buildings on surrounding microclimates. • Accommodate: It builds capacity to strengthen the design of public facilities and government buildings to protect the life, health, and property from extreme weather, including integrating sponge city concepts and naturebased solutions into its project design. An example is the construction of a new wave breaking boundary wall and the alternation of existing boundary wall at the Siu Sai Wan Sports Ground to prevent damage caused by flooding while also enhancing infrastructure preparedness for future extreme weather conditions. The sports ground suffered extensive damage during typhoon Mangkhut in 2018. • Agile: It adopts best practices and cutting-edge technologies in projects to groom government architects to deal with climate challenges. The Design for Resilience Working Group has been set-up to (i) acquire new climate related and sustainable building knowledge from global practices; (ii) identify appropriate projects to carry out field trials; and (iii) develop best practices and design guides against adverse weather and other problems, such as epidemics, vandalism, etc. Siu Sai Wan Sports Ground Ken Yeung, ArchSD
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