City, province celebrate World Wetlands Month

17 February 2016

 

The Dorothy Nyembe Environmental Education Centre in Dobsonville, Soweto, will be a beehive of activity on Thursday February 18 when the City of Johannesburg and the Gauteng Provincial Government celebrate the 45th anniversary of World Wetlands Month. 

 

World Wetlands Day is observed annually on February 2, the day the Convention on Wetlands was adopted in the Iranian city of Ramsar in 1971.

Johannesburg Executive Mayor Councillor Parks Tau; Gauteng MEC for Agriculture, Rural Development and Economic Development Lebogang Maile; Johannesburg Member of the Mayoral Committee for Environment and Infrastructure Services Cllr Matshidiso Mfikoe; Johannesburg City Parks & Zoo MD Bulumko Nelana; and ward councillors will converge into centre from 10am to mark the global event. More than a billion people worldwide make a living off wetlands.

This year’s theme, “Wetlands for our Future: Sustainable Livelihoods”, was selected to demonstrate the vital role wetlands play in endeavours to achieve sustainable development.

“Conservation and sustainable use of wetlands and forests is not the responsibility of the government alone. It’s also the duty of all citizens,” says Nelana.

The United Nations defines a wetland as land that is transitional between terrestrial and aquatic systems, where the water table is usually at or near the surface, or the land is periodically covered with shallow water which, under normal circumstances, supports or would support vegetation typically adapted to life in saturated soil. It is estimated that over 35%-60% of South Africa’s wetlands have already been destroyed through bad practices and management.

“South Africa is an arid country with only 8.6% of the rainfall available as surface water and most of its surface water in streams is polluted. 

“Wetlands have shown to be able to handle a lot of the pollution by slowing down the velocity of water, thus allowing the pollutants to settle in the stream, cleaning the water in the process. It’s important to conserve and manage our wetlands as they are vital in the reduction of the severity of droughts and floods. Wetlands perform a valuable regulatory function in trapping silts and holding water as well as ameliorating the intensity of floods."

“Wetlands also purify water and provide habitat for many plants and animals. Wetlands also provide other benefits for the community such as fibre for making crafts for the livelihoods of many people and medicinal plants that can be of great value,” concludes Nelana.