The Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) launched a forest restoration project on both sides of Estrada Militar and along Hac Sa Long Chao Kok Trail in Coloane, as well as Alto de Coloane (“Coloane Height”) back in 2018, and the bureau has now started to plant more than 40,000 saplings in an area of about 35 hectares (350,000 square metres), Wong Kai Chin, who heads the IAM Nature Conservation Division, said on Saturday.
Wong told reporters on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the 43rd Macau Green Week at Taipa-Houses that the height of the saplings planted in the current phase of restoration which commenced this month will be less than one metre, so during the restoration period, members of the public would be able to see the scene of terraced rice paddies with bamboo.
The rapid growth of lianas in recent years has affected the natural regeneration of the forest area, coupled with the decline of trees and shrubs, as well as having been hit by Typhoons Hato and Mangkhut in 2017 and 2018 respectively, Wong pointed out, adding that the bureau has been carrying out its 160-hectare hill forest restoration project since 2018.
Wong also said that as of last year, the bureau had completed the planting of about 125,000-odd seedlings, including more than 120 types of native trees, with a survival rate of more than 90 percent, adding that the saplings have meanwhile been grown to a height of three to five metres.
Wong said: “The ecological benefits and the biodiversity of hill forests have been greatly enhanced.”
According to Wong, the ongoing restoration work will be completed by the end of July, when the most recent phases of sapling planting will reach 120 hectares.
Wong Kai Chin, who heads the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) Nature Conservation Division, talks to reporters on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the 43rd Macau Green Week at Taipa-Houses on Saturday. – Photo courtesy of TDM
