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  • Essay / Conflicts based on pollution problems between residents and the government in Hong Kong

    Conflicts exist between residents and the government. Local communities include residents, particularly those living in Cheung Chau, and some environmental groups. Residents are more concerned about their quality of life, because incineration can lead to air and water pollution, or even olfactory pollution of the living environment, they fear that this pollution could affect their lives. Severe air pollution is said to lead to various health problems such as lung cancer, asthma or other respiratory diseases. Pollutants like dioxins are highly toxic and cause serious harm even with short-term exposure. And therefore endanger people's health. Additionally, water pollution poses a threat to aquatic life as the number of marine animals around may decrease as they may die in the polluted water. This not only causes complications for fishermen due to the decrease in the quantity of fish, catching less fish and decreasing their income, which would cause them to lose their jobs, but also a controversial issue for ecologists. Because water pollution would be particularly dangerous for endangered species such as the finless porpoises of the Indo-Pacific which are facing an extinction crisis. And gas emissions from incineration can cause air pollution and worsen global warming, with many environmental groups opposing the construction of the incinerator. The dredging and reclamation will also damage one of Hong Kong's best remaining fishing grounds, dealing a major blow to fishermen's livelihoods, as well as biodiversity. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essayOn the other hand, the government mainly focuses on the current landfill problem and wants to solve it by using an incinerator. Yau Teng-hua, former environment secretary, said Hong Kong needed to build a modern incinerator to meet municipal waste disposal needs in Hong Kong. The government considers that the incineration plant can meet the needs of landfills after saturation and can also bring economic benefits. The government believes that working with an incinerator to solve the waste problem could be done with other recycling works as well as waste treatment works to effectively reduce the amount of waste. Based on the principle of sustainable development, the government insisted on the need to build “the three landfills and the incinerator”. Environment Secretary Wong Kam-sing said: “While waste reduction is paramount, having municipal solid waste incineration capacity is nevertheless necessary. » The government believes that an incinerator is an essential part of reducing the amount of waste going to landfill. in the future, as it can reduce waste volume by more than 90% and is one of the most widely used technologies to treat municipal solid waste before disposal in landfills. The Hong Kong government is thus showing its support for the construction of an incinerator. As a result, value conflicts emerged between the government and local communities..