Peatlands, which take thousands of years to establish, are being exploited to make compost and potting soil, writes Rehana Dada
Most gardeners buying plastic bags of “environmentally friendly” potting soil and compost are probably unaware that they are in fact contributing to the destruction of valuable wetlands protected by law.
Unscrupulous profit-seekers often gouge this compost and potting soil out of habitats called peatlands, which act as nature’s water purifiers. It takes thousands of years to establish a peatland, but once destroyed they are virtually impossible to recreate.
The need for national legislation to protect wetland systems from exploitation became blatantly obvious during the battle in the early Nineties to save the eastern shores of St Lucia in northern KwaZulu-Natal from being mined.
The Wetlands Bill was tabled in 1995, based on the guidelines of the Ramsar Convention – an international wetlands protection agreement to which South Africa is signatory.
In March 1996 the battle for St Lucia was won when the government stepped in to prevent mining of the magnificent dunes, but since then progress in protecting wetlands has been slow. The Wetlands Bill is still being debated and amended.
As a result, 28 years after South Africa’s international commitment at Ramsar, there is still no national legislation that specifically protects wetlands. In our country, wetlands remain vulnerable and without adequate legal protection.
Wetlands are important as storers of water, water purifiers, centres of biodiversity and for flood control. They contribute to atmospheric balances and clean aquatic habitats by absorbing and storing carbon, and filtering water.
They are highly productive and indispensable components of healthy river systems. But they are still significantly threatened by industry, development, agriculture and forestry.
Geoff Cowan, of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, says wetlands are partially protected by six other laws already on the statute books. But co- ordination between the relevant government departments is not always possible. None of these Acts focuses on wetlands, and they are open to interpretation, depending on the focus of the Act. Even when the relevant clauses are used together, the shield is weak.
A wetlands issue that is becoming increasingly urgent is peat extraction.
Peat is organic matter that remains as it was when it formed -which could be anything from last year to a few thousand years ago. It is a type of soil that has a high carbon content, and consists of semi-decomposed, partially preserved reeds, pollen, sedges, tree trunks and even animals.
Undisturbed peat is a record of geological and climatic changes in the environment. More importantly, peat enhances the functions of wetlands. It absorbs and stores water exactly like a sponge. It is an excellent filter, known to remove a large percentage of pollutants from water.
Tests with harmful herbicides show peat to filter out 90% of the chemicals. Where peatlands occur downstream of mines and industries on the Highveld, they have become important factors in natural water purification.
Peat extraction is highly destructive. It affects local hydrology, reduces biodiversity and has a severe impact on the peatland’s functions.
In South Africa most peat extraction occurs in the Highveld, where water resources are particularly valuable. About 60% of locally extracted peat is used to grow mushrooms, and 40% finds its way into plastic bags as “environmentally friendly” potting soil and compost. Essentially, these priceless habitats are destroyed for pizza-toppings and gardens in affluent suburbs.
Piet-Louis Grundling, of the Council for Geoscience, points out that the peat is not renewable. Depending on conditions such as rainfall and vegetation, peat forms at a rate of between 0,7mm and 1,2mm a year. Peatlands cannot be rehabilitated – it is impossible to recreate in a matter of years or even decades what has been created over thousands of years.
Peat is used widely for a variety of purposes, including fuel, horticultural uses, pollutant absorbents and medicines. But peat extraction is a Eurocentric habit imported into our country with disregard for local ecological conditions.
In the northern hemisphere it works because peatlands are vast and peat extraction in most areas is slower than the rate of peat formation. But South African peatlands are small and rare.
Peatlands are protected under the legislation that affects wetlands, but extraction continues regardless. Until recently, peat was considered an agricultural resource and treated as such, but a court case over mining rights in a Ventersdorp peatland resulted in peatlands being declared a mineral.
This would bring into effect legislation from the Department of Minerals and Energy, except that the department’s current policy states that peat is not a mineral, and therefore cannot be “mined”.
Santi Meintjes, representative of the Department of Minerals and Energy, says the legal department is still to decide on a course of action. In the meantime, no legislation directly addresses peat extraction.