Environmental campaigners yesterday criticized a proposal to downgrade the conservation status of two coastal regions, calling it a “backdoor to development.”
The proposal was put forth by the Construction and Planning Agency as part of a required five-year review of its coastal zone management plan, which was put in place five years ago.
In the review published on Feb. 18, the agency proposes revising grading criteria for first and second-order conservation zones, citing difficulty in adhering to rules preventing “use of resources that will change the condition of resources” in first-order areas.
It specifically proposes downgrading two zones: Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin habitats along