The EPD employs 1 203 professional and technical staff, making it the largest employer of environmental experts in the HKSAR. Our staff come from a wide variety of backgrounds, such as science, applied science, town planning and engineering, and many of them are active members of learned societies in their spheres of expertise. The EPD contributes to the development of the environmental management profession in Hong Kong and elsewhere, by organising conferences, seminars and staff exchanges, providing advice, collaborating with researchers, continuously training staff and writing for outside publications.

The highlights of 2002 included:

• Mr. Mike Stokoe, our Deputy Director, leading a delegation of eight EPD colleagues to attend the First China International Conference and Exhibition on Solid Waste Treatment Technology and Equipment, held in Beijing.
  
  
• Co-organising a workshop with Environment Canada on "Waste Management" to exchange experience on waste management and contaminated land management. The workshop was also attended by a representative of the Macau SAR government.
  
  
• Organising two workshops on wastewater treatment technologies and water reuse to draw in international expertise to enhance EPD staff ‘s professional competency in these areas.
  
  
• Organising a seminar on air quality monitoring, which was attended by 40 people from 5 cities of the Pearl River Delta region to share experiences on air quality monitoring work.
  
  
• Co-organising the "Better Air Quality in Asia and Pacific Rim Cities (BAQ) 2002". BAQ2002 was the largest regional event on air quality management in Asia in 2002. Over 600 senior policy makers and other stakeholders attended the event from 16-18 December at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre to review the current status of air quality management in Asia and to formulate recommendations on how cities in Asia can improve their air quality.
  
  
• Co-organising with the Hong Kong Construction Association a conference titled Partnership for Green Construction - A New Era of Hong Kong Development, providing a platform for professionals in the industry to share their construction and environmental protection experience.
  
  
• Co-organising with the restaurant trade associations the "Environmental Exhibition & Conference for the Food and Restaurant Trade", which was attended by over 5 000 participants.
  
  
• Organising a Study Mission to Tokyo and Yokohoma on Quality Management Towards Green Restaurant, with a delegation of some 30-members comprising senior professionals in the EPD and other government departments, local restaurant trade associations, academics, public utilities companies and consultants.
  
  
• Organising two in-house technical seminars to enhance professional development in the field of environmental noise, with more than 50 professional officers and senior technical officers attending each session to share technical information and experience gathered from work assignments.
  
  
• Hosting the EIAO User Group Liaison Congress with more than 160 participants from government departments, consultants, contractors, private developers, public corporations, green groups, academics, and the Advisory Council on the Environment members.
  
  
• Setting up the EIA Support Unit to provide assistance to 8 works departments. A seminar with over 180 participants and subsequent tailor-made workshops for the departments have been held.
  
  
• Mr. Elvis Au, Assistant Director (Environmental Assessment and Noise), as the President of the International Association of Impact Assessment, chairing an international conference on impact assessment in the Hague, at which more than 600 people from more than 70 countries participated.
  
  
• Mr. Elvis Au, Assistant Director (Environmental Assessment and Noise), attending the World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg, South Africa. In his capacity as the President of the International Association of Impact Assessment, he contributed to an international submission on impact assessment.
  
  
• Contributing to an international conference in Hong Kong on "Reshaping Environmental Assessment Tools for Sustainability". The conference attracted delegates from the Mainland, Europe, North America and Hong Kong. Among the EPD's contributions to the conference were the submission of 13 papers and a technical visit to our waste facilities for the delegates.
  
  
• Conducting a workshop on environmental impact assessment in Hong Kong under the Memorandum of Understanding between the EPD and Environment Canada.
  
  
• Introducing Hong Kong’s EIA system to the Director-General of Supervision & Management Department of the Mainland’s State Environmental Protection Administration during his visit to the EPD.
  
  
• Producing papers which were published in professional journals or presented at conferences or workshops. The papers were written by EPD staff on various environmental issues.
  
  
• Continuing to serve on the fund-vetting committees of the Innovation and Technology Fund and the Environment and Conservation Fund, which help finance education and research projects in the environmental field.
  
  
• Participating in a new staff exchange arrangement agreed by the Hong Kong and Shanghai governments in July. The EPD was among the first batch of Hong Kong government departments to do so.
  
  
• Providing training to our professional staff for an average of 7 days each in 2002. Our technical staff each recorded an average of 6.3 days of training in 2002.
  

Environmental Graduate Training Scheme

More than 240 professional engineers in various fields now work in the EPD. But we are conscious of the need to train future generations of professional environmental engineers. The EPD has been certified for the Hong Kong Institute of Engineers' Scheme "A" Training since 1997. Eighteen environmental engineering graduates have undertaken on-the-job training with us so far. They were provided with opportunities to acquire project management skills, enforcement experience and environmental impact assessment knowledge. Nine of the graduates completed their training in 2002.

Workshop for senior management

To further enhance communication across the whole department and to share expertise amongst senior managers, a series of experience-sharing workshops were arranged for our senior staff.

The first workshop, on sharing knowledge and information through EPD's intranet, was held in September 2002. It was attended by 134 senior staff, ranking from Senior Environmental Protection Officer to the Director of Environmental Protection.

Photo showing senior staff discussed how to improve communications at a special workshop held in September 2002

We will continue to invest in staff development in the year 2003.