Recent floods in Gauteng demonstrated the importance of caring for wetlands and keeping them intact. Homes were washed away and a young mother was killed because of building and dumping in a wetland area in Diepsloot, north-west of Johannesburg, Gauteng.
Development in the wetland and a landfill created for rubbish had diverted a river and disturbed the wetland in Diepsloot. When the heavy rains came they created a giant gushing wall of water that washed away and destroyed homes.
Wetlands, also known as vleis, swamps and peatlands, help to slow down and absorb floodwaters. They also act as filters for pollution.
The term ‘wetland†is not precise, because these natural areas are neither truly terrestrial nor aquatic; they can be both at the same, or seasonally aquatic, or terrestrial. This ‘in-between†and dynamic character means that sometimes people don’t realise they are operating in a wetland until it is too late.
Wetlands cover about 6% of the Earth’s surface. They occur in estuaries, floodplains, marshes and swamps, and areas between the land and open sea.
Every year, World Wetlands Day is celebrated around the globe on February 2, in an attempt to draw attention to the life-saving importance of wetlands.
Appropriately, the focus this year was on wetlands and poverty alleviation. The slogan of World Wetlands Day was ‘In the face of poverty, wetlands are lifelinesâ€.
Not only do urban communities depend on healthy wetlands for water and other ecosystem services such as mitigation of natural disasters, but rural communities rely on them for wild food and medicine, grazing and building materials, as well as crafts materials from which they can earn cash.
Each province organised special celebrations and an international workshop on wetlands and livelihoods was held at the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park, in KwaZulu-Natal. This was organised by South Africa’s Working for Wetlands programme and the global NGO, Wetlands International.
South Africa was selected as the host country for this workshop because of its considerable experience in linking the needs of people with a policy on wetland protection and restoration.
‘South Africa is a very interesting country to look at,†said Trevor Wickham, the project manager of the Dutch-funded Wetlands International. ‘With water shortage in many areas and numerous communities dependent on fresh water ecosystems, South Africa has needed to be innovative in finding solutions that work for nature and people.â€
Wetlands forums
An information brochure is available from Working for Wetlands. Contact Rehana Dada at [email protected] or 082 829 6933, or your local wetlands forum.
The wetlands forums are an excellent way of getting to know what is going on in your region.
Eastern Cape: Lil Haigh at [email protected] or 083 256 6578 Free State and Northern Cape: Nacelle Collins at [email protected] or 082 449 9012 Gauteng: Umesh Bahadur at [email protected] or 082 856 9559 KwaZulu-Natal: Dr Peter Goodman at pgoodman@ kznwildlife.com or 033 845 1423 Limpopo: Meshack Masindi at [email protected] or 015 295-9302, 082 412 6673 Mpumalanga: Mandy McNamara at [email protected] or 013 764-3461, 082 530-1230 North West: Tharina Boshoff at [email protected] or 082 877-8261, 018 389-5111 Western Cape: George Davis at [email protected] or 083 457-0314