Kadoorie Farm & Botanic Garden (KFBG)
Kadoorie Farm & Botanic Garden (KFBG) occupies 148 hectares on the slopes of Hong Kong’s highest mountain – Tai Mo Shan. Established in 1956 to provide support for farmers – “helping people help themselves”– KFBG now promotes conservation of biodiversity in Hong Kong and the rest of South China, along with sustainable agriculture, sustainable living and creative nature education.
Mission
We exist to increase the awareness of our relationship with the environment and bring about positive change in the world through conservation and education.
Vision
KFBG will help create a world without environmental crisis, in which conservation of the natural heritage and sustainable living enable people to live in contentment, with respect for each other and nature.
Examples of our conservation work
We undertake a wide range of biodiversity conservation initiatives in South China.
· In tropical Hainan, we have supported the Hainan Wildlife Conservation Centre of Hainan Forestry Department in its work to conserve the island’s key forest ecosystems. In recent years we have helped manage the remarkable Yinggeling Nature Reserve; supported restoration and patrolling of habitat for the Critically Endangered Hainan Gibbon at Bawangling National Nature Reserve; and conducted surveys justifying the establishment of reserves at both Yinggeling and, now, Exianling limestone forest.
· We work with local communities in sensitive areas, where human activities can have major impacts on biodiversity. We have worked, for example, with residents of Yinggeling in Hainan, and Lam Tsuen Valley in Hong Kong, to find practices that benefit both people and wildlife.
· We supply information and invite discussion among colleagues in South China and beyond, through our website and through our twice-yearly Living Forests magazine. Issue 14, co-edited with IUCN-China and due out in spring 2008, examines the progress toward the 2010 biodiversity target in South China.
· We advise government and non-government organisations in Hong Kong on a range of ecological issues, working to integrate biodiversity concerns into policy and planning, and safeguard vulnerable species and ecosystems.
· We support postgraduate students conducting field-based research, and reserve staff to pilot practical management innovations, to build capacity for conservation.
· We contribute to assessing the extinction risk of species in the region.
These projects and many more are described in the KFBG website www.kfbg.org.
