The following is issued on behalf of the Council for Sustainable Development:

     The Council for Sustainable Development released today (July 26) a public engagement document on promotion of sustainable consumption of biological resources. The public engagement exercise aims to enhance public awareness on the importance of biological resources, foster collaboration among stakeholders in realising sustainable consumption practices, and help formulate recommendations on strategies and measures to promote behavioural change towards sustainable consumption of biological resources in the community.

     The Chairman of the Council, Professor Arthur Li, said, "We rely on different biological resources in our daily lives but many of the biological resources that we come across are now under the risk of depletion and exhaustion. If the rate of harvesting and consumption is greater than the reproduction rate, more and more species, habitats and resources will disappear more quickly than we can imagine and their consumption could not be sustained.

     "The Council recognises the urgent need to promote sustainable consumption of biological resources and has therefore decided to take on this topic for public engagement. We believe that only with concerted efforts from all sectors of society can we make a fundamental change.

     "This public engagement exercise will provide a platform to facilitate the exchange of views among stakeholders as well as gather thoughts and ideas on how to map out strategies towards more sustainable consumption."

     The public engagement document provides background information on why biological resources are important and invites public views on three major aspects:

* How to facilitate smart choices for consumers?
* How to promote best practices among businesses and the public sector?
* What kinds of education and publicity activities should be pursued?

     The public engagement document can be downloaded from the Council's dedicated website (www.susdev.org.hk). Members of the public are invited to send views to the Council Secretariat (email: comments@susdev.org.hk; mail: 46/F, Revenue Tower, 5 Gloucester Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong; fax: 3150 8168). The views collection period will cover three and a half months until November 15.

Ends/Tuesday, July 26, 2016
Issued at HKT 17:07

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