WWF warns of city’s worsening ecological footprint

2021-03-16 HKT 17:37″ title=”WWF-Hong Kong says people should eat less meat and choose locally produced vegetables. Image: Shutterstock”>

WWF-Hong Kong says people should eat less meat and choose locally produced vegetables. Image: Shutterstock

Gloria Lai speaks to RTHK’s Richard Pyne

WWF-Hong Kong warned on Tuesday that Hongkongers’ consumption habits are having a growing impact on the world – and if everyone on the planet were to follow our example, we would need 4.4 Earths to sustain us.

The green group’s ecological footprint analysis measures human use of land and sea areas and the impact this is having on the environment and animals.

Gloria Lai, WWF-Hong Kong’s ecological footprint specialist, said Hong Kong’s figure of 4.4 is two-and-a-half times the global average, and rose from 4.2 in 2019.

Lai said food is the largest contributor to the city’s ecological footprint, and suggested individuals could help by eating less meat.

“We do need to make more sustainable choices in our daily habits, especially for food consumption,” she said, urging people to choose a diet that is good for the planet and one’s health.

“You can do simple actions, like eating less meat in your daily life and choosing more locally produced veggies,” Lai said. “And if you really want to eat more animal-protein, you can choose sustainably and responsibly-produced species.”

The findings put Hong Kong’s ecological footprint as the third-worst, per person, in the Asia-Pacific region, and 14th-worst globally.

“Globally, a lot of different countries’ ecological footprints are actually decreasing – even for those high-income counties, for example, Singapore, Canada and Australia,” Lai said.

“But Hong Kong is actually not aligned, and we are going in a different direction. So, I really hope everyone – no matter if it is businesses or individuals – we have to take action and really improve our lifestyle.”