Close to one of Cape Town’s most popular beaches lies a wetland area that some claim is even more important than South Africa’s better-known wetlands – such as St Lucia, Langebaan and De Hoop Vlei – because it supports a higher number of endangered bird and plant species.
But incredibly, this wetland area between Muizenberg and Mitchell’s Plain does not receive the same level of official conservation status and protection as other internationally recognised reserves. And it is increasingly coming under threat from a wide variety of sources, including urban expansion, silting, chemical pollution, vandalism, lack of funds – and a proposed toll road that could cut through it.
Although there are plans afoot to proclaim the area, the wide range of activities and user groups that need to be accommodated means official progress has been slow. In the meantime, action groups are concerned that the area is being irrevocably degraded and that many of its endangered plant and bird species may even become extinct. Some conservationists say the park should be given Ramsar status.
The Ramsar Convention, held in 1979 in the Iranian town of Ramsar, recognised that wetlands are vital ecological zones that need to be protected. They frequently provide much-needed stop-over points for migrating birds that fly thousands of kilometres. If one link in the chain is destroyed, the exhausted birds could perish and the entire species could be forced into extinction. The signatories at Ramsar pledged to recognise and protect vital wetlands within their boundaries, so forming a global network of protected areas. South Africa is a Ramsar signatory and currently has 16 registered wetlands within its borders.
At first glance, however, the area on the Cape flats between Muizenberg and Mitchell’s Plain does not appear to be a prime ecological zone. It comprises two vleis – both nature reserves – a series of settling ponds, a landfill site and several strips of land bounded by the ocean on one side and three residential areas on the others. But the Cape Flats is a recognised biodiversity hotspot. It has more than 1 400 indigenous plant species, which include 131 rare or endangered species, and 76 species that are endemic to the area.
Despite a wide range of opinions about how to protect the area, most conservationists are in agreement that it forms a vital support network that needs to be given a higher level of protection. And most want to see the area incorporated into a formally recognised and protected zone – the proposed False Bay Ecology Park.
According to Stephen Granger, head of the environmental department at Cape Town’s Metropolitan Council, the council recognises that the area constitutes an important wetland bird habitat and has for several years been investigating the possibility of proclaiming it. But there are numerous problems that need to be overcome if such a park is to be successfully implemented, and it is going to take time to accommodate the broad spectrum of communities that use the area.
‘It should become one of the leading centres of conservation, environmental education and ecotourism in the country,” Granger says.
But some concern groups say time is running out and the area needs protection from a variety of pressing threats, not least of which is the proposed R300 – a four-lane highway that could run through the proposed park.
Presently only the two vleis – Zeekoeivlei and Rondevlei – have any form of protection.
Rondevlei has long been recognised as an important ecological zone. A provincial nature reserve of about 220ha was proclaimed there in 1952 and it now supports an impressive array of more 230 bird species, including nine that are endangered, and several endemic plant species.
The reserve is also home to the Western Cape’s only population of hippos. Once plentiful throughout the Cape peninsula and environs, hippos were hunted to extinction in this region by the early 1700s.
They were reintroduced to Rondevlei in 1981 and two more were released last month, bringing the total number to six. There are plans to release another hippo into the reserve later this year. The hippos help control alien vegetation that grows along the banks of the vlei and also help clear water channels and stir up sediment.
Rondevlei’s main attraction is its abundant birdlife. About 10 000 birdwatchers visit the reserve every year, many of them from overseas. Of the 230 bird species found at Rondevlei, nine are listed in South Africa’s Red Data book as being severely threatened. These include great white pelicans, greater and lesser flamingos, African black oystercatchers, Cape cormorants and Caspian terns.
The Cape Flats is one of the most populated areas of the Western Cape, and Rondevlei is surrounded by some of the most disadvantaged communities in the Western Cape – where conservation is often seen as luxury and not a necessity. The reserve’s overarching challenge is to balance conservation with sustainable development.
Recognising the need to educate the public about these issues, the Rondevlei reserve runs an environmental education centre that is visited by about 7 000 schoolchildren every year.
The Table Mountain Fund, which operates under the auspices of the Word Wide Fund for Nature, also runs educational programmes at Rondevlei and at the Zeekoeivlei environmental education centre. The Zeekoeivlei Environmental Education Programme (Zeep) aims to develop community upliftment projects based on environmental and conservation principles, where biodiversity conservation can be seen to generate jobs and drive social development.
Julia Wood, fund manager at the Table Mountain Fund, says educating people about the need to preserve biodiversity is the key to sustainable conservation.
‘Our vision is that people will be inspired to act collectively as custodians of our natural heritage, and see biodiversity conservation as a necessity, not a luxury, with conservation an integral part of the economy able to deliver jobs and social development,” she says.
The fund started Zeep in 2000 and will continue to fund the programme until the end of this year, after which it is hoped it will become self-sustaining.
Zeekoeivlei is presently a local area nature reserve of about 290ha that is open to the general public. Because of its size, the vlei attracts watersport enthusiasts and there are more than 20 formalised groups that use the vlei for activities ranging from sailing, canoeing, water skiing, board sailing and rowing to kiting and model aircraft flying. The vlei also attracts many birdwatchers and fishermen, as well as many of the birds from Rondevlei which leave the comparative safety of the reserve in search of food.
While members of a local concern group – the Zeekoeivlei Environmental Forum – would like to see the vlei become part of the False Bay Ecology Park, they do not want to restrict access to the vlei and would like to see as many user groups as possible accessing it in a responsible way.
Nicki Stock, a local resident and long-time member of the forum, explains that Zeekoeivlei is an important recreational spot that should remain open to the people of Cape Town. ‘I think what we’d like to see is a multi-use approach where everybody can use the water in an appropriate way,” she says.
While the vlei is popular with recreational users, it is under threat from the very thing that makes it attractive to water enthusiasts – its high water level.
Zeekoeivlei was originally part of a dynamic water system that flowed out into False Bay. In 1940, however, it was decided to close off the vlei from the sea by building a closed weir across the outlet canal. In this way, the lake’s level could be artificially maintained to allow sporting activities to be held all year round and not just during certain months of the year. The unforeseen consequence of this is that Zeekoeivlei is silting up.
According to Roger Godwin, one of the founding members of the Zeekoeivlei Environmental Forum, a survey undertaken in 1990 showed that 20% of the vlei had silted up. Godwin estimates another 420 000 cubic metres of sediment has been deposited since then. ‘At that rate”, he says, ‘Zeekoeivlei will be fully silted up in 20 years.”
The vlei is also being threatened by another form of deposit – nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen – which are leached out of the Philippi farming regions higher upstream. The combination of chemical pollutants and sedimentation has caused the vlei’s nutrient levels to rise. This in turn means aquatic vegetation, such as reeds and water hyacinth, are growing at unprecedented rates and could lead to the waterways becoming choked. Algal blooms triggered by the high level of nutrients can also kill off fish and other marine life, and cause skin irritations and nausea in humans and animals.
To alleviate these problems, the Zeekoeivlei Environmental Management Team was formed. This team comprised officials from the Cape Town municipality, the Cape Metropolitan Council, the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry and members of the Zeekoeivlei Environmental Forum. The team pushed for the construction of weir locks that could be opened to allow the water level to drop by about 1,2m, mimicking the seasonal flow of the vlei under natural conditions, and flushing out some of the nutrients and sediments. The forum paid for the construction of the locks and the vlei is now drawn down annually.
However, the threats to Zeekoeivlei do not all come from upstream. Part of the nutrient loading is suspected to come from the settling ponds that belong to the Cape Flats Waste Water Treatment Works. The ponds were originally used to treat sewage, but with the introduction of a more efficient digester system about 15 years ago, they became redundant and are now retained purely for emergency use. While the water is clean, it still contains high levels of nutrients, and these, Godwin says, are seeping into Zeekoeivlei – accounting for up to 35% of the vlei’s nutrient loading.
And if the vleis are under threat from within, they are also under threat from without, with the regions surrounding the lakes increasingly becoming urbanised. The regions consist of a coastal corridor running adjacent to Baden Powell drive and False Bay in the south; the northern extent borders the residential areas of Philippi and Grassy Park; while in the east the vleis are bounded by vacant land which several years ago was rezoned as the Pelican Park residential area. In the west they are bounded by the Coastal Park landfill site – a refuse dump that serves the southern suburbs. The height of the landfill area was recently raised to 45m, extending its lifespan by several years.
While conservationists are concerned about losing land to urban development, a far more alarming threat is the proposed R300 toll road across the Cape Flats.
Initially planned as a dual-lane carriageway, the road could be upgraded to six lanes by 2030. Presently there are two proposed routes – one would cut between Zeekoeivlei and the settling ponds of the waste water works; the other would run through Philippi Extension and Grassy Park and join the M5 close to Muizenberg.
The planned route through the False Bay Ecology Park has received widespread media attention and has generated heated opposition. Organisations such as the Cape Bird Society and the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa have strenuously objected to the road, saying it will have an enormous impact on the birds, wildlife and flora in the area.
The Zeekoeivlei Environmental Forum adds that the unique Rayer butterfly occurs only in a small belt directly in the path of the proposed road. Other fauna likely to be adversely affected includes the endangered Western leopard toad, which breeds in the settling ponds and Zeekoeivlei.
Many opponents say other alternatives to the toll road, such as improved public transport systems, have not been sufficiently investigated. The Cape Metropolitan Council was due to release a draft final report on the intended route in early March.
These then are the widely divergent zones that make up the proposed False Bay Ecology Park. Despite being located in a biodiversity hotspot – encompassing dwindling habitat that supports endangered flora and fauna – it is going to be difficult to find quick or easy solutions.
The Cape Metropolitan Council has formed a provisional steering committee that is involved in negotiations with various bodies, including civic associations, to establish collaborative initiatives aimed at making the park a reality. Until it is proclaimed, residents and concern groups have vowed to remain vigilant – and to protect as much of the fragile ecosystem as they can.