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This study attempts to use the shark fin business in Hong Kong as a case to illustrate its challenge to international sustainability and global environmental governance. Regarding the commercial fishing of sharks and the degradation of the species, the paper begins with a survey of characteristics of sharks in the world and the responses from the international environmental agents. The authors will then detail their statistical findings, together with interviews with the shark fin manufacturers in Hong Kong. Their study began in 1999 and the statistical data ran from 1977 to 2001. Finally, the so-called ‘foodway’ in the consumption of shark fin will be discussed with a view to the international concerns over endangered species in general and sharks in particular. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper applies a system dynamics model for the sustainable land use and urban development in Hong Kong. The model is used to test the outcomes of development policy scenarios and make forecasts. It consists of five sub-systems including population, economy, housing, transport and urban/developed land, respectively. Two distinctively different development schemes concerning urban population density are simulated by the model and the findings are undertaken to verify the model through comparison with historical data and sensitivity check. The forecast timeframe is then expanded from 40 years to 300 years, providing a simulation period long enough to observe and study the “limits to growth” phenomenon and the impacts on development potential of Hong Kong. The modelling results are directly useful to compare different dynamic consequences brought by various policies and decisions, and are thus of great significance to achieving the goal of sustainable land use. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]