Conservation groups on Thursday said plans to enhance the SAR's countryside risk falling flat if there isn't an infusion of creativity and fresh ideas.

They were responding to Financial Secretary Paul Chan’s budget proposal to make Hong Kong a more liveable city by, for example, providing treetop adventures in country parks or turning wartime relics into open-air museums.

Cindy Choi, Chairwoman of the Association for Geoconservation, said while enhancing Hong Kong’s country parks is a good idea, the government should also focus on making the most of the SAR’s unique features.

"The government hasn't done anything to enhance the geo-attractions of Hong Kong... For example, for the Robins Nest Country Park, we have Lin Ma Hang [a village with an abandoned lead mine]. We can consider restoring these quarries to make them safer [and] open them to the public," she said.

Meanwhile, the Save Our Country Parks Alliance raised doubts over the effectiveness of the government’s conservation policies, including the Countryside Conservation Funding Scheme, which funded 33 projects by local NGOs last year.

"The bird-watching society, which I'm a member of, has a project there and they just keep studying birds. They haven't improved even a metre, a square metre of land," the alliance's co-founder, Martin Williams, said.

"If you go there as a Hong Kong person or as a visitor and you have a look, you're not even aware that these projects are happening. They're just too small or they're just completely ineffective.”

He called on the authorities to do more to promote ecotourism, and engage rural communities.