NEWS
water . Through the restoration work taking place at Nuwejaars , including invasive alien clearing and rehabilitation along a 5 km stretch of the river , a team of six now also enjoys secure , full-time employment .
These wetlands play a key role in securing regional groundwater flow for downstream communities and towns . They are also internationally important from a conservation perspective , feeding the Heuningnes Estuary at the CapeNature De Mond Reserve , a Ramsar site ( one of South Africa ’ s 26 wetlands of international importance ) and an Important Bird and Biodiversity Area , and with examples of critically endangered fynbos types .
A vital part of the work at Nuwejaars is the restoration of palmiet , a unique indigenous plant that helps to purify water and sequester carbon .
Thousands of years ago , dense stands of palmiet dominated these wetlands and over the centuries , they likely formed the basis of the peat-like soils found here . Peat wetlands are vital in the fight against climate change , storing carbon for as long as it remains waterlogged , while helping to reduce the impact of floods .
By the late 1990s , many of these special wetlands faced increasing threats . In many places , they were overrun by invasive alien plants , which reduced water flows by up to 10 %, and they became increasingly degraded .
This was one of the reasons a group of founding landowners decided in the early 2000s to create this conservation venture . WWF South Africa has been supporting the work since 2018 .
Dirk Human , the chair of the NWSMA and owner of Black Oystercatcher Wines , comments , “ WWF South Africa recognises the ecological importance of this area and the role our wetlands can play well beyond our borders . We ’ re extremely grateful for their direct support over the past three years , and their belief in our work long before that , and we look forward to working with them for a long time to come .”
Jan Coetzee , Land Programme Manager with WWF South Africa , says , “ We are very happy to be working with the NWSMA team whose commitment to the cause is clearly evident through the variety of interventions they have been willing to take – from alien clearance to controlled burns and replanting of indigenous species . They have shown how , by working together , we can restore wetlands to ecological health for the benefit of the natural world and current and future generations .”
During the next phase of the WWF South Africa project , the team will open up the area to interpretive walking tours , leading people to a bird hide overlooking a secret waterbird spot .
In the meantime , visitors can experience the wetlands through two-hour guided wildlife tours . These sunrise and sunset tours take visitors to a secret lake expanse , now home to hippo and buffalo ( reintroduced here two centuries after they became locally extinct ). For more information on these tours , see www . nuwejaars . com .
The importance of wetlands
Wetlands are essential to human wellbeing , inclusive economic growth and all life on land . They provide us with water , food and medicines . They protect cities and communities from floods , droughts and coastal storms .
They directly support the livelihoods of a billion people as well as extraordinarily rich biodiversity . They store vast amounts of carbon – and are absolutely central to efforts to both mitigate and adapt to climate change .
From rivers to coral reefs , mountain streams to seagrass beds , marshes to mangroves , and lakes to lagoons , healthy wetlands are essential for people and nature – without them we cannot survive , let alone thrive .
• Directly or indirectly , they provide almost all of the world ’ s consumption of fresh water , while wetland vegetation helps to filter pollutants .
• 1 + billion people directly depend on them for a living .
• 40 % of the world ’ s species live and breed in wetlands . Freshwater species alone account for more than 10 % of all species , despite freshwater covering less than 1 % of the Earth ’ s surface .
• They are a vital source for food , raw materials , genetic resources for medicines ; they mitigate floods , protect coastlines and build community resilience to disasters , and they play an important role in transport , tourism and the cultural and spiritual well-being of people .
Wetlands continue to be routinely undervalued … and to be lost at an alarming rate .
• Up to 87 % of global wetlands have been lost in the past 300 years .
• Over a third of the world ’ s wetlands have been lost since 1970 ( contributing significantly to the huge loss of species populations over the same period ).
• Since 2000 , rates of natural wetland loss have accelerated – and we are now losing 1.6 % of our remaining wetlands each year .
• Losses are due to water drainage , pollution , unsustainable use , invasive species , disrupted flows from dams and sediment dumping from deforestation and soil erosion upstream .
The world ' s ‘ wetland blindness ’ is inexplicable given the pivotal role of healthy wetlands in delivering global commitments on climate change , sustainable development and biodiversity .
37 Grassroots Vol 21 No 1 March 2021