The Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) has recently started the sixth phase of its woodland restoration on the two sides of Estrada Militar, the south side of Hac Sa Reservoir and Long Chao Kok, among other areas in Coloane, with 35,000 new tree seedlings planned to be planted in a total area of 35 hectares next year, Wong Kai Chin, who heads the bureau’s Nature Conservation Division, said yesterday.
Wong made the remarks after inviting the media to visit the bureau’s current woodland restoration work at the Ecological Trail Garden of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants in Coloane’s Seac Pai Van area.
According to Wong, since 2018, after the Hato and Mangkhut typhoons “severely” damaged Macau’s hill woodlands, the bureau has been carrying out ecological restoration in the woodlands in phases. So far, he added, more than 125,000 saplings of over 120 kinds of indigenous trees have been planted, with their survival rate exceeding 90 percent.
Indigenous trees are plants that are native to a specific area.
The bureau, in collaboration with an expert group of the Guangdong Academy of Forestry (GAF), has formulated principles and plans for restoring and optimising the woodland ecology in line with the characteristics of Macau’s woodlands, Wong said, adding that the restoration and planting are being carried out in accordance with six steps – retaining original tree species in the woodlands, removing vines, digging holes for trees, fertilising and backfilling soil, disinfecting and planting saplings, and silvicultural treatment.
Wong said that in recent years, many hilly woodlands in Macau appear to be green, but in fact, the hills have long been covered by wild vines such as Mikania micrantha (aka bitter vine, climbing hempvine, or American rope) seriously hindering the growth of plants, adding that the affected woodland gradually loses its ecological function and cannot provide a food source and habitat for wildlife, affecting the sustainable development of biodiversity.
Wong underlined that an outsourced company must carry out its work according to the bureau’s plan.
Wong noted that tree retention is already underway in the phase six of the woodland restoration work, with only dead and ailing trees as well as invasive plants being removed, adding that the planting will start in March next year.
Wong said he believed that the newly planted trees in phase one will have a high chance of survival even when a typhoon hits the city, but he was quick to add he hoped there won’t be a need for large-scale and intensive woodland restoration work to be carried out in the future.
Further assessment of the restoration work will be made depending on the condition of the woodlands, Wong noted, adding that the bureau conducts a tree planting activity every year during its Green Week.
The bureau promised that it will continue to monitor the effectiveness of the restoration work, which started in the current quarter, in cooperation with the expert group.
Wong Kai Chin (right), who heads the Municipal Affairs Bureau’s (IAM) Nature Conservation Division, introduces the bureau’s phase one of its current woodland restoration work to the media yesterday during a guided tour of the Ecological Trail Garden of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants in Coloane. – Photo: Yuki Lei
