Focusing on growth of another kind

Every so often a large group of HSBC staff get together to focus on growth.

During these hillside gatherings, the interest is in neither business nor economic growth, but rather in the growth of trees.

In an initiative funded by the Foundation, Bank staff and their families have planted - and now care for - more than 30,000 trees at three separate sites in the New Territories. These sites are part of a carefully planned afforestation scheme involving leading corporates in Hong Kong.

The aim of the scheme is to boost the natural ecological restoration of Hong Kong's hillsides, which until a few hundred years ago were covered in rainforest.

Attempts at reforestation first began as early as 1870 in Hong Kong, however, the difficult terrain (prone to hill fires and landslips) continues to make the task a challenge.