Deputy Director of Environmental Protection Dr Vanessa Au; the Chairman of the Environment and Conservation Fund Committee, Dr Eric Cheng; and Assistant Director of Environmental Protection Ms Joanne Yung attended the public day of the 21st Eco Expo Asia and the premiere of season three of "Enchanting China" today (October 29).
In her speech, Dr Au said that this year marks the beginning of the National 15th Five-Year Plan. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has also formulated the First Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (2026-2030) (Hong Kong's First Five-Year Plan) to fully align with the nation's efforts in promoting low-carbon green transformation and energy revolution, with a view to developing Hong Kong into a more liveable city with blue skies and green seas. She added that season three of the documentary series "Enchanting China", released this year, consists of five episodes, covering themes including "Wondrous Wetlands", "Vista of Xinjiang" and "The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau". Through various real-life examples, the series showcases the nation's efforts and achievements in fostering harmony between humanity and nature, and helps the audience understand the country's ecological civilisation development practices and progress toward building a beautiful China.
Afterwards, Dr Au and Ms Yung hosted the environmental protection quiz competition "Go Green Challenge", which covered environmental protection initiatives under Hong Kong's First Five-Year Plan, as well as environmental protection knowledge presented in thematic videos and guided tours. They commended the students for their enthusiastic participation and extensive knowledge, and encouraged them to integrate their passion for environmental protection into their daily lives and cultivate a green lifestyle together with their families.
Dr Au and other guests also presented awards to the winners of the "Recycling Day" creative short film competition at the event. The competition invited Hong Kong residents to promote messages of source separation and clean recycling through their cameras, with entries jointly assessed by a panel of professional judges and public voting. Dr Au thanked the participants for using their creativity to promote waste reduction and recycling. She congratulated all the winners and encouraged them to continue spreading green living messages to more people through various means. The list of winners has been uploaded onto the "Recycling Day" dedicated website (www.wastereduction.gov.hk/en-hk/RecyclingDay2026/shortfilm).
The 21st Eco Expo Asia was held from October 26 to 29, with the last day as a public day which was open to all free of charge. For this year's public day, the Environmental Protection Department invited Dr Yu Changda of the Institute of Space and Earth Information Science of the Chinese University of Hong Kong to host an aerospace tutorial, sharing why geospatial technology matters to our environment and health and demonstrating how satellites, maps, and data help scientists "see" the hidden connections between the environment and one's health. Afterwards, Dr Yu also conducted an aerospace workshop and an exchange activity for students from Hong Kong and the Mainland. Other public day programmes includeded guided tours, green seminars, a recycled plastics 3D printing workshop, and interactive games, attracting more than 1 000 students to attend.
