Life Education and Citizen Science through Tree Protection and Conservation project
Life Education and Citizen Science through Tree Protection and Conservation project
At a press conference today (24 June), The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) announced the commencement of a two-year project, titled Life Education and Citizen Science through Tree Protection and Conservation. The project aims to develop a platform for the community to contribute to the greening and re-greening in Hong Kong to raise public awareness of tree conservation and to promote the importance of Life Education.
Hosting the press conference were the Project Co-Leaders, Professor John Lee Chi-kin Director of the Centre for Religious and Spirituality Education (CRSE) and UNESCO Chair in Regional Education Development and Lifelong Learning; Professor Jim Chi-yung, Research Chair Professor of the Department of Social Sciences (SSC); the Project Honorary Advisor, Mr Leung Wing-mo, Former Assistant Director of the Hong Kong Observatory; and other EdUHK team members from SSC, CRSE, the Department of Science and Environmental Studies, and other supporting units.
Speaking at the press conference, Professor Lee said, “Under the extreme weather in recent years, the formation of super typhoons has caused severe damage to our green landscape. With the aim of addressing the UNESCO Sustainable Development Goals, our project places paramount importance on preserving urban forests and trees, and engages citizens to join hands and learn about urban trees and people–nature interactions through the environmental perspective of life education.”
The project will be implemented in two phases: (i) the development of a mobile app, and (ii) development of teaching and learning materials. The mobile app will be developed to facilitate citizens’ and students’ learning of visual tree assessment and will include a platform for users to upload tree assessment results and photographs. Following the first phase, teaching materials will be developed to engage EdUHK students and students from six local primary and secondary seed schools in tree assessment through fieldwork and learn about the importance of tree conservation through their related school subjects.
The mobile app will be externally supported by the Hong Kong Geographical Association and Green Power and is expected to be available for pilot testing before mid-2020. An initial profile of tree quality in some districts of Hong Kong will be shared with the public. In the medium term, a comprehensive picture of tree quality will be provided through citizen engagement.
