The Neglected “Old and Valuable Trees”

There are now 506 registered “Old and Valuable Trees” (OVTs) in Hong Kong. In comparing with other trees, OVTs are treated in a very different manner. Apart from having tree assessments at least twice a year, they are closely monitored by staff and volunteers. Theoretically they should be strong, healthy and long-living. However back in 2007, there were 527 OVTs registered. An obvious drop is observed when compared with the current figure. Did the tree management go wrong, or are the OVTs reaching their limits?

At the moment of OVT selection, the curse began. There are five criteria for OVTs: large in size, in good shape, rare species, above 100 years old and other special values. Any tree meeting one of these five criteria can be an OVT. However, the additional condition to be noted is that only trees on the unleased government land will be considered, meaning private owned trees and trees with uncertain ownership may never be listed as OVTs.

When compiling the Register of OVT, most of the trees were not check thoroughly on their health and structural conditions. Because of that, some trees could not withstand the adverse weather and collapsed, while some were felled for posing non-remediable threat to the public. Even a few new trees are added as OVTs, the overall number still suffers a sharp drop.

Passive tree protection strategies also minimise the survival rate of the OVTs. The “no-fatality-no-rescue” management approach can never save the big trees. Those having problems will usually be largely pruned to reduce weight and thus the danger of collapse, but this will make trees suffer from food shortage and die sooner.

Also, many trees that totally meet the OVT criteria are being neglected. The big trees and those with special memorial value worth more protection. The Register of OVT should be updated constantly. It should also include public nomination and investigation mechanism, so as to let the public know more about the operation of the Register and bring tree conservation to the level of public engagement.