CIWEM President, Alastair Moseley, offers some highlights from his current visit, accompanied by CIWEM’s Director of International Development, Paul Horton.

Friday, 1 May 2009 

I am pleased to say that I avoided being confined to the hotel which I originally planned to stay at, due to a case of swine flu.  The pandemic risk is being taken very seriously here and had I been unlucky enough to have checked into my original hotel I would have been unable to leave the premises for several days.

That problem averted, I have begun my Presidential visit to Hong Kong starting with a visit to Victoria Peak, taking in the views of the island and Kowloon. This is an impressive place of activity and sky scraper buildings. I have been lucky to have a clear day because the skies are often very hazy due to pollution. It is very warm with temperatures approaching 30 degrees and humidity levels around 80 percent.

I had an excellent visit to Mai Po area which is a Ramsar wetland site and includes the adjacent Hong Kong Wetland Park, which functions as an educational centre, flood management, water treatment and recreational facility. Over a million visitors pass through the park every year. It explains the role and value of wetlands and offers the opportunity to experience a wetland first hand. The park has bird hives and bridges that allow you to walk through mangrove areas. A green roof has been incorporated into the visitors' centre.  The building, which has been designed to blend in with the natural environment, was created by a multi-disciplinary team of architects, scientists, planners and engineers.

I have met with the British Consulate and members of the CIWEM Hong Kong committee who took me out to dinner. The food is varied and excellent and so far I have not been offered anything that I didn't want to eat. But that may change! I have also taken a few trips on the MTR system which I have found to be efficient, managed well and on time.

More soon, Alastair.

Tuesday, 5 May 2009

Today was excellent as I attended the Wetlands Symposium organised by CIWEM Hong Kong and the City University. The event brought together a range of people from the environment including the Hong Kong Government departments responsible for conservation, environmental protection, water supply and drainage, along with representatives from the fields of planning, architecture, planning, biology, ecology, coastal pollution, environmental science, consultancy and academia. The event explored all the issues related to wetland management, the role of wetlands and how they can be developed, their educational and recreational uses and the pressures faced as urban development encroaches on existing sites.

The event summed up the value of CIWEM as an organisation that represents a broad range of sectors through its membership and as a professional body that is striving for a better environment. It is fantastic that we can facilitate events that bring together such a diversity of people. The audience was not shy in asking questions and it made for a superb event. I kicked off the proceedings with a keynote speech outlining my views on integrated water management.

In the evening I took the time to walk around the Kowloon part of Hong Kong before catching the Star Ferry back to Hong Kong island. At night all the buildings are lit brightly and it made for a spectacular back drop as I traveled across Victoria Harbour.

I know that in terms of lighting alone Hong Kong uses terajoules of energy and this is bad environmentally, but I was seduced by the scenery this evening and the experience would have been bland without the lights that have become a huge draw for visitors. This represents the dilemma of many of professionals working in the environment. How do we stay true to our principles, whilst we enjoy doing things that are ultimately unsustainable?

Bye for now, Alastair.

Wednesday, 6 May 2009

Today has been very eventful and positive for CIWEM.

It all began with a meeting at the Drainage Services Department where we discussed links with the institution and explored an exchange of information related to benchmarking, climate change and drainage modelling.

I then joined some of our local members at the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE),  where we signed a Reciprocal Recognition Agreement (RRA),  which is a great step forward for both organisations. The signing was very ceremonial with silver pens, exchange of gifts, handshakes and lots of photos. I felt very Presidential.

Following yet another excellent lunch, hosted by HKIE, I was taken to see the Water Services Department (WSD). CIWEM has a long standing relationship with the WSD and, as with the Drainage Services Department, some of their staff are members of CIWEM. Our International Vice President, Damien Ku, has worked for the WSD for 38 years.

I discussed the strong links we have with WSD and areas where we could help, particularly by running workshops on events such as water conservation, energy efficiency and carbon accounting. The WSD has a big department of scientists who are receptive to joining CIWEM.

The day concluded with a reception at the British Consulate where Ed Milband the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change was guest of honour. I made a point of introducing myself and CIWEM to him. The event also allowed me to meet a number of people from the environment sector in Hong Kong.

What a day! Alastair

Thursday, 7 May 2009

Another great day with a nice twist at the end.

It all began with a meeting at the Environment Protection Department (EPD), which is responsible for enforcing environmental regulation. A number of CIWEM members work at the EPD and it was great to be able to reinforce the message that the Institution has a huge range of skills that are applicable to the EPD and that experience across CIWEM's membership is available to them.

I then went to meet with the Assistant Director at the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department. He had spoken at the wetlands symposium on Tuesday. His department is responsible for managing wetlands, forestry and biodiversity, along with fisheries and the members of the Ramsar convention, trade in endangered species and the convention on biological diversity.

They have developed a 'Cities' exhibition which people can walk around and get an understanding not just of the endangered species, but also of the reasons why they are endangered. The displays included products derived from the animals. This was a very humbling experince which brought home the impact that we have on the environment.

The second interesting thing was the biodiversity survey  that they have undertaken for the whole of Hong Kong. This not only identified flora and fauna, but highlighted the 'hot spots' which contained at 'risk species'. This is a great set of data and the department plans to update this regularly to help develop policies to manage the ecology of the islands.

I joined the Hong Kong Branch AGM at which Norman Cheng was re-elected as Chairman. The branch has run 12 technical events, supported eight environmental events run by other organisations and responded to a range of consultations. Norman Cheng then spoke of challenges facing he world and the role CIWEM can play in meeting the environmental challenges. He also thanked Kenny Wong for his help in getting the RRA signed with the Hong Institution of Engineers. I also used the opportunity to talk to the branch about all the governance changes proposed by CIWEM.

The AGM was follwed by the branch dinner, which included a talk on 'The science of Feng Shui' and  musical entertainment, with yours truly playing a few environmentally-themed pieces by Debussy, Scott and Mendelssohn, followed by a duet with former branch chair, Luciana Wong. I loved the evening. I was sat with Anissa Wong, who is Permanant Secretary for the Environment , and the Directors of WSD and DSD. The dinner was held at the wonderful venue of Happy Valley, which is owned by the local jockey club. It was amazing!

This continues to be an exciting trip, Alastair .

 Friday, 8 May 2009

 I took some time in the morning to reflect on my visit so far and the tremendous warmth that people have shown to me. I realise that during the week I have seen the wetland park, attended the wetlands symposium at which I gave a keynote speech and had meetings with all the relevant Government departments, plus signed the reciprocal recognition agreement with Hong Kong Insitution of Engineers. It has been a full and very fruitful week.

I used a little of my spare time to go and see the Bhudda statue on Lantau island. I travelled by cable car in order to get  a view from above. I have to say that Hong Kong is greener than I thought and I could see the scale of the country parks. I also got a sense of  the pollution here, although all week people have been telling me how unusually clear the weather is, I could see the haze. This was even more visible when I reached the Bhudda, having climbed more than 250 steps.

In the afternoon Paul and I managed to get a meeting with Edward Yau, who is the Secretary for the Environment in Hong Kong. This was an excellent meeting and we discussed the value of CIWEM working with Government in Hong Kong, exchanged ideas on pollutions issues, links with Hong Kong and China, and explored options for supporting the Eco Expo event in October which the Secretary's department is supporting. The Hong Kong Government has provided money to Guangdong Province to help with cleaning up pollution around the Pearl River Delta and support more companies to become green. The Chinese authorities have committed to matching the funds.

This was a great end to the working week and it concluded in the evening with a meeting I had with a colleague, Chris Hazen, the great grandson of the famous hydraulics engineer Allen Hazen, of Hazen-Williams equation fame. That was something I had to drink to!

Bye Alastair.

Saturday, 9 May 2009

Whilst the working week is now over, I took the opportunity to join CIWEM members and non-members on a technical visit to join a team undertaking research into two cetaceans, white dolphin and finless porpoise, and a visit to a low level radioactive treatment facility.

The survey team is led by Samuel Hung, Chairman of the Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society, he and his team perform the survey work on average three times a week around the southern part of Lantau Island. He is an expert on the white dolphin, which is the colour they reach in adulthood, although some of them appear pink (www.hkdcs.org).

The radioactive treatment facility handles low level waste, such as that from hospitals, laboratories and watches. The transfer, storage and management of the waste is state-of-the-art and I wore a doseometer which proved there was no contamination. Having survived that, I rejoined the boat to resume watching the dolphins again. What a fantastic experience!

I feel very privileged to be CIWEM President and we are definitely the right institution to bring professionals together. We have a great opportunity to be lead promoter of environmental knowledge exchange and professional development world wide.

I'm not sure what tomorrow will bring but I'm off to Shanghai, so watch this space!

Alastair

Sunday, 10 May 2009

Well, this is fascinating and what can I say about my first visit to Shanghai, so far?

Flying in on the plane I noticed how large the city is with construction taking place everywhere. I travelled on the Maglev (Magnetic Levitation) train and reached a speed of 431 kilometres per hour, the fastest I have ever travelled on land. I wonder what the power consumption is for such a system? I intend to find out!

In the evening I met with colleagues from a local engineering company and I discussed the role of professionals and how they are viewed in China. There is a register of professional engineers here, but in terms of the environment, in their view the authorities do not take account of environmental professionals but instead talk about environmental engineers. So, there is a task to undertake to get the authorities to view environmental professionals and scientists as being on a par with engineers.

In the evening I walked down to the riverside, to the area known as the 'Bund' which runs alongside the Huang Pu River, which itself runs down towards the sea where it meets with the Yangtze. There is a lot of construction taking place, partly for the World Expo 2010 which happens next year in Shanghai. I couldn't help getting a feeling the development takes priority over environmental protection. The Huang Pu River looks 'polluted' but this is only my impression so far. I'm looking forward to finding out more information during the meetings this week.

Your President.

Monday, 11 May 2009

Hard to know where to start as I am just back from a restaurant where I overlooked Shanghai from the 38th floor, and it was revolving! I was at dinner with a CIWEM fellow but more of that later.

The day began with a visit to the British Council and the chance to discuss some issues in relation to PI-UK China (the grouping of 16 professional institutions with a focus on China). It was also an opportunity to discuss with the Council some of the initiatives that CIWEM is already developing with them and a chance to consider future ideas.

After the meeting we returned to the hotel and used the opportunity to try and catch-up on some e-mails which were stacking up like planes over Heathrow. However, Director of International Development, Paul Horton, told me that he had now received two entries for the Stockholm Junior Water Prize, which is tremendous, and hopefully gives us the platform to progress further in future years. This is great news as I am passionate about education.

Following a very quick lunch, we met with the Shanghai Academy of Sciences and the Shanghai Society of Environmental Sciences, the latter of whom we have an MOU with. I gave a presentation to a group of professors and researchers about Integrated Water Management, in particular sustainable urban drainage. I also discussed water capture and re-use within buildings and green roofs.

A lot of questions followed as the group wanted to know whether water capture in buildings and SUDS were statutory in the UK. They also wanted to know what standards were applied and how developers were encouraged to incorporate SUDS and water capture systems into developments.

The meeting was an excellent opportunity to promote the idea of jointly hosting a seminar on various topics around the theme of SUDS/Urban Drainage/Green Roofs and the SSES will discuss this further and then come back to us with some ideas. This will be a great joint event for CIWEM-SSES.

In the evening we met with CIWEM Fellow, Guiyi Li, who was based in Shanghai working with Hyder. He took us to the moving restaurant in the sky and once I had calmed down from the breath-taking view, we discussed the benefits of an organisation like CIWEM in China and what it would take to get established here. Guiyi told us about the changing picture in China in relation to the environment and he offered to help us as much as he could.

All in all a fascinating day.

Alastair

Tuesday, 12 May 2009

Early check out of the hotel today after trying to sort out all my e-mails!

We were picked up by the Taihu River Basin Authorities and driven to their premises for a meeting with Deputy Director, Zhu Wei, and his team. The Tai lake is part of the Tiahu river basin, which covers 36,900 square kilometres and runs through two provinces and the municipality of Shanghai. The authority have to cope with pollution which affects the whole basin, although industrial treatment plants are being installed in factories and domestic wastewater treatment plants are being upgraded to remove total nitrogen and phosphorous.  This is mainly due to an algal bloom in 2007, which led to water supplies to some cities near the lake being restricted.

The authorities have to manage both floods and droughts, with an average of 1200 millimetres of rainfall annually, usually between May and October. There are seven main river basin systems in China, but Taihu is the only one based around a lake.

I gave my integrated water management presentation and it elicited a lot of debate. Initially
I was told that introducing constructed wetlands would not be possible as the basin area is too densely populated and urbanised. However, that led onto a  really interesting discussion about the introduction of green roofs, attentuation systems such as grass verges, soakaways,  water storage tanks and other systems. They liked the idea that it was possible to introduce practices that would help the situation, but they also explained that the urban environment is under the management of the Construction Commission, so implementing such measures would require the support of other government agencies.

I explained that in the UK the Environment Agency in England & Wales and SEPA in Scotland are legal consultees on all new developments. The meeting concluded with the suggestion that a conference/workshop could be held exploring these ideas and that we could include representatives from the Environment Protection Bureau and Construction Commission. They were very receptive to this idea, in particular working with CIWEM, but wanted to discuss it further internally. The next major conference they plan to hold will be in April/May 2010 and they want this to include international perspectives on the issues they are dealing with.

I made sure that all attendees took copies of WEM (The Environment Magazine)  home with them, plus CD versions of The Global Environment , Edition One.  I also told everyone about CIWEM's  Flood Risk Management Journal.

Following the meeting I had the opportunity to see some of the fast disappearing old streets of Shanghai, a fascinating experience that brings home the difference between the old and the ever growing new buildings. I couldn't help wondering where is the soul of the city, which now includes 20 million people.

I am now in Chongqing after arriving on a delayed flight, my first real transport issue.  Whilst on the plane I read in the China Daily about initiatives that China is undertaking in relation to the environment. It was an environmental feature in the paper and it demonstrated that the Government is trying to change people's behaviour through awareness and education. However, it also pointed out the difficulties, car ownership is rising fast and hybrid vehicles cost almost twice as conventional cars and are not finished well. There is a need for more 'environmental car technology,' as this country of bicycles is fast becoming a country of cars. At the same time public transport is being improved with a growing high speed rail network.

Bye from a municipal city with over 30 million people.  Alastair Moseley, for CIWEM, in Chongqing.

Wednesday, 13 May 2009

Today was a tough one, beginning with a meeting at the British Consulate at 9.30 am where we met with the consul dealing with climate change issues and his team which included the science and innovation officer, the education and science person and a colleague responsible for climate change projects. We talked about the role of CIWEM, the establishment of the CIWEM Climate Change Network and how we can help with knowledge transfer. The consul was focused on low carbon economy, business aspects of climate change, education and projects linked to glacial melt. The consulate also discussed options for professional qualification delivery under the ETQ (education, training, qualifications) centre.  This is a vehicle under which CIWEM could deliver some short vocational training and seminars.

 I was then rushed across Chongqing in a taxi driven by a rally car driver who went for every gap! The 20 minute journey took just over 12 minutes! I was ushered in to meet the Consul General who was collecting together the British delegation, which included the Mayor of Leicester, a place twinned with Chongqing. I was then taken into a very formal setting, along with Paul, to meet the Mayor of Chongqing. We were seated in large armchairs and the Consul General introduced us to the Mayor, who welcomed us to Chongqing and told us that the city (with 32 million people) was growing at 10.2 percent in terms of its GDP. I wore the CIWEM gong and gave the Mayor a framed picture from the CIWEM Environment Photographer of the Year exhibition.

 After that I joined a lunch hosted by the British Consulate for the British delegation and I sat with representatives of CIOB, ERM, PWC and ABN-Amro, plus local councilors from Leicester. However, before I could get to the end of lunch I was whisked off again to a meeting with the Water Resources Board (WRB), Flood Risk Management section; it was another mad taxi ride!

 The WRB explained that they are undertaking work around flood control on the Yangtze River. They told us that there were water quality issues in the Yangtze and its tributaries and there were siltation problems in the three gorges which they were investigating. I outlined the themes of my Integrated Water Management presentation and they liked the ideas presented and were receptive to a workshop to explore the issues in more detail, in particular SUDS and attenuation systems. I passed them details of CIWEM's Flood Risk Management Journal and suggested that we might start to develop a closer working relationship.

They were pleased that they had met CIWEM last year and had contact with Terry Fuller, Chair of the Rivers & Coastal Group, and recommended that we start by exchanging information and articles on relevant topics for use in each others newsletters. There was also the suggestion of CIWEM establishing formal links with the Hydraulic Association, which is part of the WRB.

Now late for the meeting at Chongqing University, we struggled to get a taxi, as they all change shifts between 4-6 pm. Finally we found a kind taxi driver who raced all the other traffic to get us to the meeting, where I met senior lecturer and CIWEM member, Eric Chun.

I was taken into the building, running up the stairs to a room on the third floor, where there were about 25 eager students. It had rained, it was very humid, there was no air conditioning (actually this is a good thing) and I began to perspire. I delivered the lecture but finished up feeling like a waterfall with perspiration running everywhere. After the lecture I met the Vice Dean who had been in a meeting with senior officials to see how much funding the university will receive in the next year. Chongqing is one of the top four universities in China with 70,000 students and as such qualifies for extra money to support its work. I think the meeting went well.

I was then taken for dinner by the university and finally had time to relax. We were joined by an American Peace Corp volunteer who was lecturing at the university but coming towards the end of his time there. He had some funny stories to tell us. I also learnt that Eric and his wife (also a CIWEM member I believe) were expecting their first child in August, congratulations to them. I wonder if this will be the first CIWEM baby.

After the meal I had the chance to walk around the ancient district of Chongqing, now a very small area in a huge urban municipality.

I have finished the day with a walk down to the confluence of the Jialing River and the Yangtze River, wow! There is something really inspiring about this place and I am looking at an impressive bow spring bridge which spans the river. It is amazing that the river flows all the way to Shanghai. It took me two and half hours to fly the same distance.

What a day. Now a beer and bed, Alastair.

Thursday, 14 May 2009

Today I am one of the honoured guests at the International Environment Conference and Workshop organised by the Chongqing Municipal Government as part of the China Chongqing International Investment and Global Sourcing Fair. The conference was delivered in Chinese but I was fortunate to have my own translator, Rebecca, who is a very enthusiastic languages student learning to be an interpreter. The conference was opened by the Deputy Secretary General of Chongqing Municipal People's Government and the keynote address was given by Zhang Yong, Vice General Director of Chongqing Environmental Protection Bureau. Make no mistake, Chongqing is a huge city and the population of the Chongqing municipality is over 30 million people. So it was very encouraging to hear these two political leaders showing clear vision, direction and commitment for the protection and enhancement of the environment. They are still clearly focused on economic growth but they also want to reduce pollution and improve the living environment for the people of Chongqing, as well as the local ecology. So the main thrust of the conference was on introducing technologies to clean up air emissions from coal fired power stations, introduce more efficient energy generation and protect water resources and improve the quality of the water environment. As you will have read in my previous diary entries, I have given a presentation on integrated water management on three occasions during my visit, so I was delighted to see a presentation from Honeywell that showed their technology for local water capture and recycling providing ideas akin to mine.

Following the conference we went into an hour of 'one to one' sessions and had discussions with Honeywell, amongst others, about the role of CIWEM as a global facilitator of environmental knowledge sharing, as well as a resource for capacity building and development of an environmental skills base. We were then able to meet Zhang Yong on a one-to-one basis, which was a real coup, allowing us the opportunity to discuss some of the environmental challenges of the region in detail. He was enthusiastic about the role that CIWEM could play in enabling the Chongqing Environment Protection Bureau to engage with world experts on water and environmental management and the potential for the Institution to support environmental education through universities and exchange programmes. He received a gift from me - a framed print of one of the Environmental Photographer of the Year Competition category winning pictures -  and was determined to hang it in his office!

By meeting Mr Yong we had effectively achieved a 'full house' in speaking to all of the government leaders for water and the environment in both Shanghai and Chongqing and in every case received genuine interest in what CIWEM is doing and how the Institution could help organisations keep up to date with world environment skills and share our collective experience and skills around the world. Who knows, we may even persuade one or two of them to become Industry Affiliates of CIWEM, which they all showed interest in and wanted us to follow up with them when we return to the UK.

Our final activity of this hectic but interesting and enjoyable visit to Hong Kong and China was to visit the Global Sourcing Fair. Maybe due to the economy, or just because of the vast scope of the fair, there were only 20 or so stands specifically about water and the environment. I hope that future events can be more focussed on water and environmental management, as there is great opportunity for new concepts and technologies here that the Chinese people and officials want to learn about and implement. They also want to develop their own technologies and skills, so there is also an educational opportunity here. We left the fair for the British Council offices to give out final gifts, collect luggage and say fond farewells to Sarah Deverill, Director of the British Council in Chongqing, and our delightful and able assistant, Emma Wang, who is based in the British Council through our membership of PI(UK)China. Emma had put all of the plans in place for our visit in discussion with Paul Horton and it was to her credit that all arrangements went like clockwork - even when Paul and I over ran!

We then headed off to Chongqing airport with Sarah and her driver, for our flight back to Shanghai from where we are due to fly back to London tomorrow morning.

So what are my thoughts after this momentous, jam packed, but enjoyable fortnight in Hong Kong and China? Well, firstly it has reinforced my belief that water and environmental management is a global task and not limited to individual countries. It has also reassured me that although China is often portrayed as only being interested in vast economic growth, there is genuine concern for the environment here and that there is vision and leadership developing amongst government officials to introduce better environmental stewardship and put environmental protection, if not at the top of the agenda, certainly in the top three or four priorities for this vast country.  I also believe that there is much that we can learn from what is being done here. So there is real opportunity for Institutions such as CIWEM to help create the information flow around the world on environmental best practice, to help our experts extend their knowledge to help China and for us to learn from them. CIWEM can provide the global links between the many environmental associations and societies that exist in China and we can provide the independent review that is often sought here for opinion on environmental proposals and initiatives.  

Our CIWEM colleagues in Hong Kong are doing a fantastic job in bringing environmental professionals together in Hong Kong and into mainland China, and we will be working with them to help them with initiatives to recruit new members, forge stronger links with universities and engage with global environment businesses to support conferences, introduce environmental training and build environmental skills capacity. We really value the RRA that we have signed with HKIE and I know that this will bear great fruit for both Institutions in time. The ultimate aim will be to enable environmental professionals to be recognised by the Hong Kong and Chinese Governments in the same way that engineers are, rather than as simply 'environmenal engineers' as they are now. This will only come with the understanding and recognition of the value that environmentalists bring to urban planning and development by the leaders of Government departments, something that I believe we saw the beginnings of during our visit.

My sincere thanks go to Paul Horton for being the perfect guide and host every where we went. He is a consummate professional with fantastic world travel and international affairs experience. Without him this trip could not have been the success that it undoubtedly has been.

Thanks for your interest. Over and out, Alastair Moseley.