Community Engagement

One of the Institute’s main tasks is to facilitate and manage the University’s community outreach activities in the fields of sustainability and the environment.  The University of Hong Kong itself is committed to engaging with the community on these issues and aims to play a leadership role in promoting awareness of sustainability and environmental concerns.  It has sustainability goals and policies in place and appointed its first designated Sustainability Manager in 2007.  The University integrates sustainability into its own internal management practices as well as the strategic planning of future developments, including the new Centennial Campus currently under construction.  The University launched an annual sustainability report in 2003 with current Institute staff playing a major role in this initiative.  The University has also been recognized as a leader in promoting on-campus energy conservation and efficiency.  In recent years, it has also started to play a more prominent role in heritage conservation and this area too represents part of the Institute’s remit and is one in which we will become more heavily involved in the future.

Our commitment to community outreach is a central part of our mission.  We see community education as the key driver of the changes in attitudes and behaviour that are required to move towards a more sustainable future.  We also believe that universities have a particularly important leadership role to play in fostering greater understanding of the sustainability and environmental challenges facing modern society.  This can be achieved not only through our academic research and teaching programmes but also through engaging directly with the community at large to help promote a greater awareness and understanding of these challenges.

Many of our outreach activities are focused on the Lung Fu Shan Environmental Education Centre located on the southern edge of the campus.  We manage the Centre on behalf of the University and the Hong Kong Government’s Environmental Protection Department which together have signed up to an innovative partnership agreement for its operation. The Lung Fu Shan Centre provides us with a unique operational environment through which to engage the community and to respond to the special needs and requirements of particular groups such as primary and secondary school students.  More information on the Centre’s activities is provided on its dedicated website.   

We are also establishing a new Visitor Centre at our Shek Kong facility.  As well as providing information and exhibition materials on the local sustainability and environmental issues associated with the New Territories, we will be integrating this new centre into the development of a series of linked activities with the Lung Fu Shan Centre.  This will give us an opportunity to introduce the community to a wide range of sustainability and environmental concerns not only in the main urban areas of Hong Kong but also in the less intensively developed New Territories.     

We will also be developing partnerships with other organizations and non-governmental organizations working in the sustainability and environmental fields.  For example, the location of our Shek Kong Centre adjacent to the Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden offers unique opportunities for collaborative educational initiatives. Our objectives here are twofold.  Firstly, we aim to contribute to the overall development of sustainability and environmental education in Hong Kong.  Secondly, we aim to foster synergistic relationships with other organizations sharing similar interests so that we can make the most effective use of the human and other resources available to us.