Facts for Thought

91 percent of Hong Kongers are concerned about water availability-water shortages rank only behind air pollution and climate change as top environmental concerns. This majority percentage reflects a certain level of "crisis awareness"-the world at large, and China in particular, will be severely affected by water shortages resulting from climate change.

96 percent of respondents identify the major sources ("large" and "largest" contributing factors") of air pollution to be Road Vehicles, followed by manufacturing industries in PRD (91 percent) and local power generation (74 percent). In terms of health impacts, the public is mostly accurate in such thinking.

96 percent of respondents identify the major sources (as "large" and "largest" contributing factors) of climate change to be factory emissions, followed by power plant emissions (95 percent), vehicle emissions (94 percent) and deforestation (91 percent). This is pretty much spot on! Only power generation globally accounts for a larger share of emissions than manufacturing.

When asked what information about air pollution would be useful, 93 percent of respondents believe that information regarding human health effects would be somewhat to very useful.

People also find information about individuals' actions (the environmental impact of our lifestyle choices) to be more useful than information such as type of pollutants that cause air pollution, major polluters, and so on.

Respondents believe that most government policies can help reduce Hong Kong's air pollution in the long term. Comparatively, respondents feel that government policies towards local power plants, road vehicles, and Hong Kong funded factories in the PRD are more effective than others.

Nearly all respondents (96 percent of total, who agree that the HKSAR Government bears the bulk of responsibility for improving air quality) believe that among the government offices the onus should be on the Environmental Protection Department and the Environment, Transport and Works Bureau.

For the full analysis, see WWF & TNS Air & Climate Attitudes Survey