Nigel Yip, New Territories East Region Scout Association of Hong Kong
In response to a 2007 case study, a group of twenty-one 15-24-year-old Scouts, including one Form 5 student, travelled to Jungfraujoch in Switzerland to study the reduction of the length of the glacier, which had from 24km to 23km in one year.
This glacier will be almost gone by the year 2050. In 100 years there has been a 150m loss of depth of the glacier, and the rate of reduction per year has typically been 2m but is now 5m per year.
Jungfraujoch is called the “Rooftop of Europe”, and no tourism is allowed on this site. The group camped (low carbon impact travelling) and collected data testing carbon dioxide levels and water pH, and also brought samples back to HK to study.
This project had the initiative to educate Hong Kong people about global warming, climate change, and heritage protection. Using the mantra “Think Global, Act Local”, the group wants Hong Kong people to “make noise” and to protest. Additionally, they wanted information exchange with Europe.
Scout Movement has long been a stakeholder of the environment, and the group wants to inform kids and motivate them to take action.
The group also visited the Switzerland Weather Observatory, which has been in operation for around 80 years, providing data on the glacier.
In Hong Kong, there is no such data for schools to study, so the Hong Kong public has no previous experience of global warming affecting glaciers. The group gave their information to the UN representative for use in publishing research papers. 100,000 Hong Kong Scouts will benefit from the information.
As an exchange, the Scout group visited Wengen to view the car-free resort and brought information back to Hong Kong as a promotion for eco-tourism.
They have created a partnership with Oxfam HK to share information on similar studies.
“Roadshow” media partners will run movies of the project throughout public transport.
Took information of the HK tourism dragon logo to Switzerland Tourism Board.
The initiative taught mountaineering skills, skills in environmental consideration, management skills for coordinating a trip for 21 Scouts, financial management to stay within budget. In addition to acclimatisation training in preparation for the high altitude.
The famous glacier in Yun Nan on Yulong mountain is a “sister mountain” with Jungfraujoch and has the same problem, highlighted in 2004, making it a locally relevant topic.
The project is not yet complete. The media launch of information share is underway now. Turbojet (one of the sponsors) will be making a presentation to their employees.
