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The Slope Safety Technical Review Board recommended in 2000 that GEO examine rainfall data to see whether any possible climate change related trends were visible and, if so, what the implications might be in terms of landslide risk and slope safety. The current scientific consensus on climate change is that “global warming ” is a real phenomenon, and that noticeable regional climate changes in the next 50 to 100 years are probable. In addition, there is an increasing acceptance that development often results in local climate change. Analysis of 50 years of annual rainfall data from Hong Kong shows that average annual rainfall has increased slightly over this period. However, this increase has not been uniform, and has been concentrated in the central (developed) parts of Hong Kong, particularly the northern parts of Hong Kong Island, Kwai Chung, Tsing Yi, Shatin, Tai Po and Tsuen Wan, where annual increases of several hundred millimetres appear to have occurred. It seems probable that these changes are related to the development of an ‘urban heat