Two thousand hikers helped Secretary for the Environment Edward Yau open Hong Kong's 24th country park, on Lantau Island today.

The Lantau North (Extension) Country Park adds another 2,360 hectares to Hong Kong's country park area. It brings Lantau Island's total country park area to 10,000 hectares, or 70% of the island.

To celebrate the opening, the Agriculture, Fisheries & Conservation Department held a hiking excursion from Tung Chung to Mui Wo.

Nature conservation: Secretary for the Environment Edward Yau (left) officiates at the Lantau North (Extension) Country Park opening. Lantau Island is home to rare plants and animals such as Romer's Tree Frog.

Fine balance

Opening the park, Mr Yau said: "Lantau strikes a fine balance between development and nature conservation. The overall objective of this country park is to conserve the natural environment, protect the diversified habitats, preserve the scenic landscape and provide recreation opportunities."

The new park is mainly mountainous and upland valleys covered with natural woodland and unspoiled stream courses, which provide a highly scenic backdrop to the urban development at Tung Chung.

The upland areas also offer magnificent views of the airport to the north, and rural and wilderness mountainous areas to the south. The well established areas of secondary woodlands, shrubland, grassland and fresh water habitats are of high conservation and landscape value, he said.

Lantau supports a rich diversity of flora and fauna. It is home to a large percentage of many of Hong Kong's recorded species including 70% of its herpetofauna, 60% of its dragonfly species and more than 50% of its butterfly species.

The island is also home to several plant and animal species which are rare in Hong Kong, including the Romer's Tree Frog, Striped Bush Hopper, Hong Kong Asarum and Lantau Star-anise. It is a great country destination that blends sightseeing and nature education, Mr Yau added.