The establishment of the Environment and Ecology Bureau was first propounded on 17 May 2022, under Hong Kong’s fifth Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s government structure reorganization proposal for the sixth-term.

[4] The bureau was formally established on 1 July 2022, under the administration of Lam’s successor, Hong Kong’s sixth Chief Executive John Lee.

As shown in figure 1, the environment and ecology bureau is further split into 5 separate domains including environmental protection, Energy, Climate Change, Conservation, and Sustainable Development.

They strive to create a society where the community values the preservation of a healthy and pleasant environment for present and future generations.

[8] Following the reorganization (January 1, 2023) of the government’s structure, duties that were once held by the Environment and Ecology Bureau (EEB) and the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) were redistributed.

[9] The EPD’s duties are distributed among the following six program domains, which are as follows: The Environment & Ecology bureau is responsible for a wide purview of conservation efforts in Hong Kong.

This piece of legislation, implemented in 2004, was enacted with the purpose of regulating, protecting, and managing Hong Kong’s biodiversity and natural environment holistically.

[11] Under this policy, 12 different ecologically important sites across Hong Kong, the majority of which fall under private ownership, have been identified for governmental protection.

Currently, it has allocated 24 country parks and 22 special areas, totaling around 44,300 hectares, to nature preservation, recreation, and education.

To supplement their endeavors in this regard, the bureau also works with the specialized Countryside Conservation Office, which was announced to the public during the Chief Executive's 2017 Policy Address and established shortly thereafter, in July 2018.

As the EEB website states, half of this sum “will be deployed to provide financial support to local non-profit-making organizations (NPOs) and villagers through the Countryside Conservation Funding Scheme (CCFS) for organising diverse and innovative conservation activities or projects in the countryside (except Lantau Island) based on an interactive and cooperative approach.”.

To the former, this bureau enforces adherence to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

[15] Taking the lead on the road to carbon neutrality, the Environment branch of the Bureau is implementing and coordinating numerous Government policies and initiatives.

The Government hopes that through this an example will be set to other parts of society, as well as boosting the green economy, and creating more jobs centred around sustainability.

In schools, both teachers and students are having their understanding of climate change and sustainable development enhanced, in the hope that this will help promote a low carbon lifestyle.

Mr. Tse Chin Wan is the Secretary of the Environment and Ecology Bureau of the Hong Kong Government, appointed on July 1, 2022.

[24] During his tenure as Undersecretary of the Ministry of Environment, he spearheaded policy formulation in air quality, waste management, climate action, and protection.

These plans have been met with criticism by Friends of the Earth Hong Kong warning that increasing the development size limit would “severely compromise” the purpose of the environmental impact assessment.

Deeming the level of fines too low, the bureau hopes to institute a system of fixed penalty tickets amounting to $5,000 HKD.

Second, the meting out of a $5,000 HKD fine, which makes a about half a month’s wages for many Hong Kongers, without at least the possibility of a trial is perceived by many locals as far too high for a trivial offence.