Tuesday, August 28, 2007

ISA HK/China --- Free Arboricultural Consultation to Political Parties (DAB)

To: Board of Directors, The Democratic Alliance for Betterment of HK (DAB)

From: ISA HK/China Station

Dear Sirs,

Free Consultation on Tree Related Issues to DAB

We are ISA HK/China Station, an Associated Organization of the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA; http://www.isa-arbor.com/) for the region of HK, Macau, Taiwan & China. We currently have over 390 Station Members from all walks of life including Civil Servants, Academics, Engineers, Architects, Consultants & Contractors working in the landscape industry. We have been rather low key in our existence because we are not an activist group like a lot of the NGO's. We only focus on trees & tree care, practically nothing else. Our official correspondences are in English since we circulate overseas, although we all understand Chinese.

The Arborist Profession mainly involves Tree Care, including Tree Selection, Tree Installation, Tree Maintenance, Tree Pruning, Tree Transplantation, Tree Inspection, Tree Risk Management & Tree Climbing. ISA HK/China Station now governs the 41 no. of Certified Arborists (CA) in HK & we organize CA exam in HK every April & October. We are the true specialists in tree care & practice by international standards. We also have a Code of Honour to abide Integrity, Professionalism & Participation into our society with an attitude of fact-finding & truth-telling.

Ever since the falling apart of the 200 year old ' Champion Ficus' in Kowloon Park a little while ago, our Station has received communication from Station Members urging us to positively approach the relevant Govt Depts & public sector for exposure of proper tree care to protect our precious trees, which are getting fewer by days for one reason or another. After some consideration & discussion, we have decided to open ourselves to the public for free consultation on arboricultural matters over e-mail & phone call. The CA Family of our Station would also entertain invitation in giving Free Arboricultural Seminar to anybody subject to the CA Family's convenience. The Station Manager below can be contacted at egc@netvigator.com or 9090 6719 from 8 am to 10 pm everyday for such arrangement. DAB is welcomed to contact him anytime for anything relating to tree affairs in HK/China for free advice.

ISA HK/China issues a Station Mail weekly on our local tree affairs in English circulated to arboricultural organizations in HK, Macau, Taiwan, China, Japan, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand & USA. Anyone is welcomed to be included in the circulation. Samples of our Station Mail are attached for your interesting reference & DAB is welcomed to come on list of our circulation anytime. No cost or charges is involved hidden or expressed for this service.

ISA HK/China also maintains a Blog at http://isahkchina.blogspot.com/ to keep some of our Station Mail on display to the public. However, photos or images would not be attached in full due to the Blog size allocated by the web.

Trees are an important part of our environmental protection because trees are the community centre for all wildlife on land. The benefits of trees are too many to mention & a summary is produced by ISA at http://www.treesaregood.org/ open to the world. DLO of the HK Govt is the coordinating Dept of any tree issue on Govt Land & keeps the gate for any application for Tree Felling, Tree Transplantation, Tree Pruning & Master Landscape Plan. In the longer run, ISA HK/China would like to see an Arborist Report is to be required for this kind of application at every Govt Dept & let Arborists take the legal & technical risk in the assessment. After all, Western Nations would not ask their Lands Dept to assess trees. It would be their Arboricultural Office doing the job & taking the liability. In the present political environment in HK, ISA HK/China can offer help indeed.

DAB is by now the biggest & most influential political organization in our Govt & DAB can demand policies affecting the quality of life in our society. Many a times in the past our activists have requested Tree Laws to be proposed at Legco, but who are qualified to draft Tree Laws? Would not education come first to achieve a general understanding & acceptance within the community before Tree Laws are drafted for the sake of social harmony? ISA HK/China can certainly help in providing international experience in this aspect.

Thank you all Sirs/Madams for your time & DAB is welcomed to contact us anytime for anything relating to tree issues.

Serving our society well is the commitment of any good Arborist in the name of Participation.

best regards,

Sammy Au
ISA HK/China Station Manager
ISA Chief Proctor for the HK/China Region
ISA Certified Arborist / Certified Tree Climber no. ML-0174AT
International Tree Failure Database (ITFD) Coordinator for HK/China
Independent Tree Specialist to the HKSAR Govt
Lecturer for Tree Supervision at CITA

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