A total of 7.9 million HK dollars (about 1.01 million U.S. dollars) has been granted to seven new initiatives for the promotion of sustainable development, a spokesman for the Hong Kong Sustainable Development Fund Secretariat said Thursday.

Seven new community and school-based initiatives have been approved under the Fund to promote public awareness and adoption of the principles of sustainable development.

These projects show a clear integration of the key sustainable development elements, including community involvement, social cohesion, environmental awareness and economic development, in a balanced and practical way and will last for 17 to 36 months. The amount granted by the fund this round was about 630,000 HK dollars (about 80,700 U.S. dollars) higher than the last one.

The spokesman said they believe that the approved projects will become a model for wider dissemination of the sustainable development message and for creating a greater impact on the general public.

The 100 million HK dollars (about 12.8 million U.S. dollars) fund was set up in 2003 to support community initiatives for promoting the concept of sustainable development. Practical projects and educational programs that help raise public awareness of the principles of sustainable development and encourage sustainable practices are welcome to apply to the fund.

The fund will be open for the next round of applications in mid 2009.

Source:Xinhua