R Mabudafhasi: World Wetlands Day

4 February 2009

South Africa’s celebration focuses on Inkomati Catchment

Theme: catchments management, we all live downstream

Mpumalanga MEC for Agriculture and Land Administration, the Honourable D D
Mabuza
Executive Mayor of Enhlanzeni District Municipality the Executive Mayor
Councillor C N Mkhonto
Executive Mayor of Bushbuckridge local Municipality the Executive Mayor
Councillor M J Morema
CEO Inkomati Catchemnt Management Agency, Ms Sizela Ndlovu
Chief of Craigieburn community, Chiloane
Members of the media
Members of the community
Ladies and gentlemen

International perspective

Every year on 2 February, the peoples of the world celebrate and commemorate
the special history immortalised on this day 38 years ago. Governments of the
world committed themselves to protect the wetlands and gave birth to Ramsar
Convention on Wetlands on the 2 February 1971 in the Iranian city of Ramsar.
The disappearance of the wetlands, the need to protect them for their values
and benefits to both humankind and the ecosystem were the primary goals which
led to the establishment of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.

Many wetlands are international systems lying across the boundaries of two
or more countries. The health of these and other wetlands is dependent upon the
quality and quantity of the trans-boundary water supply from surface or ground
water. Further, the migratory movement of many wetland dependent species
necessitates international co-operative governance in order to ensure their
conservation and management.

The convention’s mission is the conservation and wise use of all wetlands
through local, regional, national actions and international cooperation, as a
contribution towards achieving sustainable development throughout the
world.
Each year since the first World Wetlands Day celebration, in 1997, the Ramsar
Convention on Wetlands, has tried to bring a timely focus to the events by
suggesting a unifying theme to highlight key messages. Wetlands Day 2009 is
celebrated under the theme is "catchments management" and our country has
adopted the slogan "we all live down stream" to make our celebration more
relevant to our needs. This theme draws the attention to the need for good
management of river systems to support the continuous livelihood of all
biodiversity deriving benefits from water resources.

National perspective

South Africa became signatory to the Ramsar Convention in 1975 therefore
became one of the founding members. One of the obligations of each contracting
party is to designate wetlands of international importance, or Ramsar sites, as
flagships for demonstrating conservation, good management practice and wise use
of wetlands. To date, there are nineteen such sites in South Africa. Makuleke
Wetlands and Prince Edward Islands were recently added to the Ramsar list.
Being a contracting party to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands offers us
opportunities to be part of a global celebration of wetlands and their value
for biodiversity and human well being.

Benefits of the wetlands

Wetlands play an important role in ensuring a steady supply of clean water
for communities and help government save hundreds of millions that would be
required to set up purification plants and the labour cost. We also preserve
our rich agriculture lands during storms when the wetlands giant sponge like
vegetation help to slow down destructive impact of fast flowing flood water,
forces water to spread, store water when it rains and then release it slowly
during dry season, helping to fight droughts. In coastal zones wetlands provide
hurricane protection by creating a buffer zone between the water bodies and the
land.
Wetlands enable people to harvest protein-rich food such as fish, aquatic
snails, oysters, reptiles and bullfrogs which are eaten widely or exploited
commercially. Good food helps keep people healthy.

Various wetlands plant species have great medicinal value. In South Africa
traditional medicine is the preferred primary health care choice for about 70
percent of people. Wetlands provide a significant amount of the 19 500 tons of
medicine plant material used by 28 million South Africans every year.

KwaZulu-Natal is well endowed with river pumpkin which is used to ease
childbirth, treat kidney and bladder infections. Other wetlands plant species
are used to treat coughs, headaches, urinary complaints, throat ulcers, wounds
and pain. The honey disa plant is used to restore the voice after an illness.
The wetlands provide critical contribution in the economy. The majority of the
household income is from the sale of crafts woven from fibre harvested from
wetlands.

Wetlands also create sustainable employment to locals as they play a bigger
role in tourism attraction. Wetlands offer delightful scenery that people visit
to walk and watch birds. Wetlands are important habitats for water-dependent
wildlife such as hippos and cranes which add to tourism attraction. Other
outdoor activities include cycling, boating, fishing, hiking, canoeing, etc
that contribute to improving our lifestyles and mental well-being.

Mpumalanga as focus area

The celebration for this year focuses on Mpumalanga’s Craigieburn Wetlands
as the most ideal location to illustrate the theme of Catchment Management.
This is because it is one of the country's most important water-producing
regions. Four major river systems are fed from the high rainfall in the
province and three major rivers, the Olifants, Crocodile and Komati start
here.

The Drakensberg escarpment extends through Mpumalanga, and we know that
mountains are very effective for catching clouds and the rain they carry. So
water is one of the most important products that this province produces. And
this product is an important export for South Africa as well. For example, The
Komati River flows into Swaziland and is important for the northern areas of
that country.

It flows eventually into Mocambique. The Crocodile also flows into
Mozambique, after feeding important agricultural areas, large towns, and even
Nelspruit city along the way. And the Vaal, which we all know well in Gauteng,
picks up much of its water in this province, and flows through many farmlands
before it finally reaches Johannesburg, then flows beyond until it joins the
Gariep/Orange River. There is also the Sabie River and the Blyde River, and
many others which play a variety of important roles.

These rivers all support important industries, such as sugarcane, commercial
tree plantations, maize fields, fruit crops. And the water is used by many
settlements, small rural settlements as well as dense urban settlements. We use
our rivers and wetlands heavily and we need to use them for our own well-being.
They support our food growing industry, our mining industry, our cities. We
cannot survive without this water.

But often we use our rivers and wetlands in ways that damage them and
prevent them from providing the goods and services that we depend on. For
example, we are all aware of the problems with crocodiles dying in the Olifants
River. This river is affected by many different impacts, including acid mine
drainage from the mining industry, agricultural chemicals from farms, and
sewage from urban settlements. All of these impacts reduce the quality of the
water in the system. In many sections of this river, even in Kruger National
Park, crocodile populations have declined or are declining. This may result in
serious economic impact as the loss of reptiles could affect tourist attraction
and jobs.

Throughout the high water-producing areas of Mpumalanga, there are many
commercial tree plantations that use large amounts of water and have other
impacts, such as erosion and roads that impact on wetland hydrology.
Sugarcane is another large water user, and the trout industry has many impacts
on river functioning and river health because of the many dams that are built
to sustain this activity. Increasing urbanisation has seen many of the wetlands
disappear.

All these activities reduce wetland habitat and biodiversity, but these are
all important activities economically, for food security and for recreation,
and we need to find ways to continue to use our water resources without
impacting on people and ecosystems downstream that also depend on those same
resources.
Water resource management is really the domain of my colleague in water
affairs, but the reality is that water resources need to be managed as part of
the catchments in which they are found. Any activities in a river affect
ecosystems and people downstream, and anything that happens on land also
affects the quality of our water.

In this respect, the environmental management principles in the National
Environmental Management Act are important for how we manage our water and
catchments, as the principles of the National Water Act and the Conservation of
Agricultural Resources Act. Government is partnering with stakeholders to keep
wetlands healthy and robust to ensure sustained supply of resources. We are
already scrutinising all developments requests earmarked adjacent to
wetlands.
There are even ways to farm in wetlands without damaging their functioning.
Around us in this area, there are many people who depend on the wetlands to
grow their crops. Just in this village of Craigieburn, there are people who get
all their household food from their wetland plots.

This was an area that was affected heavily by forced resettlements during
apartheid. Many people were moved here, onto these sandy soils where you cannot
grow much food and the wetlands became important for growing food. But over the
years the wetlands started to erode, and many farms were washed downriver. Now,
there is very good work being done by the Association for Water and Rural
Development (AWARD) and by working for wetlands to attempt to restore the
original resourcefulness of this wetland.

Working for wetlands is rehabilitating the wetlands here to stop the erosion
and protect the food plots, and also enable the wetland to continue providing
its water purification and water storage functions. Rehabilitation restores the
functioning of wetlands to a certain extent. Across the country government
spends R75 million every year to rehabilitate wetlands, but it is even more
important that we focus on maintaining the functioning in wetlands that are
still healthy. We will go after lunch to see some of this important work.

Ramsar Wetlands of International Importance

We are also here today to celebrate South Africa's Wetlands of International
Importance. In Mpumalanga we find a very special wetland of International
Importance. Verloren Valei near Dullstroom feeds into two of our major river
systems. To the west it drains into the Olifants River and to the east it
drains into the Crocodile. In fact, it is on the Verloren Vallei reserve that
the Crocodile starts its long journey across this province, along the southern
border of Kruger National Park, and into Mozambique. Verloren Valei has a very
complex network of wetlands which includes peat wetlands which enhances the
water purification and water storage role of wetlands. This Ramsar site has a
great diversity of plants, including many World Conservation Union (IUCN) red
list ground orchids. It is an important breeding site for wattle cranes, and it
provides habitat for one of the world’s most rare birds, the white-winged
flufftail.

Mpumalanga is also blessed with Wakkerstroom wetland which also has a
peatland, and it supports the biggest breeding population of the southern
crowned crane. Because it has about 800 ha of peat, it is very important for
water management. And even though it is in the middle of a town and surrounded
by farms, it is still in excellent condition. Wakkerstroom town has built up a
very important tourism industry, based mainly on the wetland. An application
has been submitted to us for Wakkerstroom wetland to be declared a Ramsar
Wetland of International Importance and the designation process has been
initiated.

The Chrissiesmeer area has a large concentration of unusual wetlands, about
320 permanently wet pans. There are many pans across the Northern Cape, Free
State, Gauteng, North West Province and Mpumalanga, but most of these are dry
salt pans that receive water only occasionally. In Chrissiesmeer, the pans are
wet throughout the year. There is also a great variety of other wetlands. It is
a unique area, because of its geomorphology, its hydrology, and the special
biodiversity it supports.

The Prince Edward Islands is first sub-Antarctic Ramsar site in the world.
Makuleke Wetlands is the first Ramsar Site to be jointly managed with the
community in the country. By designating these unique sites South Africa was
commended for the good work during Conference of the Parties (COP10) at
Changwon, Republic of Korea where the certificates for Makuleke Wetlands and
Prince Edward Islands were awarded to our country through our department. The
Convention acknowledges that countries like France, United Kingdom, New Zealand
and Australia who have some overseas territories in their regions and none of
them have thought to make them a Ramsar site yet will learn from us.

Ladies and gentlemen I would like to congratulate the Prince Edward Islands
Management Committee and Makuleke Wetlands Joint Management Board for the good
work done in putting proposals for the designation of these unique wetlands and
I would like to do it by handing over to them the Ramsar certificates. I would
like to invite the representatives of the Prince Edward Islands and Makuleke
Wetlands to come to the forth to receive their certificates.

Thank you.

Issued by: Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
4 February 2009
Source: Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
(http://www.environment.gov.za)