Wetlands are the Most Threatened Ecosystems

[Lisbeth]

Wetlands are superheroes: expert sets out how they protect people and places



Published: January 31, 2024 4.25pm CET - Jacqueline L Raw, Carbon Project Developer, Nelson Mandela University

In the past, wetlands were often seen as undesirable landscapes – waterlogged areas that were difficult to navigate, impossible to build on or farm, and a source of pests such as mosquitoes. But the view on wetlands has shifted as we have learnt how important these ecosystems are for essential “services”. They purify water and provide habitats for plants and animals.

Wetlands are also critical for supporting some people’s livelihoods, particularly in developing countries, including water-scarce countries like South Africa. Wetlands provide over 1 billion livelihoods globally; 660 million people depend on them for aquaculture and fishing. Livestock owners rely on wetlands as a water source for their animals.

In the last decade, the potential for wetlands to help with climate change adaptation has become more recognised. Wetlands absorb the carbon dioxide (CO₂) that contributes to global warming, and they reduce some of the impacts of climate change by curbing floods.

As a researcher, I led South Africa’s first national assessment of coastal wetlands as “blue carbon” sinks. These are marine habitats that can take up and store more carbon than terrestrial forests. My research has also assessed the impact that climate change will have on mangrove forests, otherwise known as coastal wetlands.

This has given me insights into wetlands and their importance in helping prevent the worst effects of climate change.

Wetlands for people and planet

Wetlands can provide a “nature-based solution” to assist with climate change, but only if they are protected and managed. For example, wetlands absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (like all plants do), and convert this into organic carbon (which makes up the plant as it grows). This organic carbon is deposited into the wetland mud as the plant grows through seasonal cycles, and the waterlogged conditions help to trap it there and prevent it being released back into the atmosphere. This carbon can be locked up for decades or centuries, which is a meaningful timescale for tackling climate change challenges.


Sandvlei in Cape Town was flooded in October 2023. Protecting and restoring wetlands can help protect communities against floods. Ashraf Hendricks/ GroundUp

In addition to mitigating climate change, wetlands can help humans to adapt to climate change. Many coastal areas are prone to increased flooding as a result of climate change, due to a combination of higher intensity storms and rainfall as well as rising sea levels. Wetlands are considered “ecological infrastructure” that provides protection from flooding. They have been successfully incorporated into shoreline engineering.

Naturally occurring coastal wetlands (such as mangroves and salt marshes) can also buffer the effects of flooding if they are restored and maintained in good condition.

Unfortunately, in many urban areas these wetlands have been lost or replaced with hard infrastructure such as buildings or roads. The protection from wetlands is then lost and flooding or sea-level rise can be more severe. Detailed studies at the Knysna and Swartkops estuaries in South Africa have shown that salt marshes, another type of wetland, can provide protection from rising sea levels if they are restored.

What’s missing

For wetlands to continue to provide these services for climate mitigation and adaptation, their sustainability must be ensured. Many of these steps must be taken at the level of regional or national government, but individual citizens can also get involved.

Some actions that ordinary people can take to help preserve wetlands include:

• educating themselves and others about the value of wetlands

• participating in wetland restoration projects or clean-ups

• directly contributing to organisations that conserve wetlands, such as the South African Wetland Society and BirdLife South Africa

• conserving water and reducing pollution from household chemicals

• advocating for planning and zoning of new housing and business park developments that include wetlands in their design.

Even with adequate protection, the ability of wetlands to provide a variety of important ecological services is also limited by certain thresholds. For example, catastrophic flooding can cause scouring and erosion of wetlands, wiping them out completely.

Careful planning must be put in place to prepare for climate change-caused disasters like this. The complexity of climate change means that solutions need to be complex too: both nature and human engineering are resources for mitigation and adaptation.

Solutions will also need to be designed for local conditions: there isn’t a general solution for the same challenge in different areas. For example, for a solution that involves creating wetlands as supporting infrastructure, the size of the wetlands and the number of wetlands can influence how effective the flood mitigation of an area will be in comparison to built infrastructure such as flood control reservoirs and dams. Creating natural infrastructure such as wetlands can provide a cost-effective solution to improve built infrastructure in this way.

[Lisbeth]

GAS HUNT

Farmers push back against Highveld gas-drilling exploration plan


The scenic grasslands around Chrissiesmeer support several endemic and threatened bird species, while the wetlands and pans also have large populations of water birds. (Photo: Kate Borradaile)

By Tony Carnie - 18 Sep 2024

Farmers in the Mpumalanga Highveld are resisting a plan to drill the area in search of gas. One farmer warned, ‘When the wetlands and pans have been polluted and nothing will grow here any more, it will be too late. No one will remember that some old man with white hair like me warned against this project… But someone needs to stand up, today, and say that this is wrong.’
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Farmers are banding together to resist a major gas exploration venture covering a quarter of a million hectares, deep below some of the most fertile soils of the Mpumalanga Highveld.

This comes after Rhino Oil and Gas Exploration South Africa (Rogesa) announced plans to drill up to 20 gas exploration wells to depths of a kilometre or more on farming land south of Ermelo.

Rogesa says it is targeting “biogenic” (methane) gas, helium and geological hydrogen within government Exploration Block 379. This is a 250,000-hectare chunk of land in southern Mpumalanga that includes the towns of Ermelo, Amersfoort, Chrissiesmeer, Hendrina and Carolina, as well as nearly 1,500 farms and other properties.

The blue line shows the boundaries of the entire gas exploration area in southern Mpumalanga. The light brown area below Ermelo has been earmarked for up to 20 initial exploration wells. (Source: SLR scoping report)

Local beef farmer Kerneels Jansen van Rensburg, one of the many Mpumalanga farmers pushing back against the exploration venture, says the rivers running through his farm are already heavily polluted by untreated human excreta flows from the dysfunctional Ermelo sewage treatment works.

As a result, Van Rensburg has been forced to drill several boreholes to water his cattle and irrigate the fields.

“Maybe gas exploration is not quite as bad as open-cast coal mining – but I’m already totally dependent on groundwater. If this underground gas drilling goes ahead, there is no guarantee against hydrocarbon and acidic pollution of all our water (groundwater and surface water).

“I’m asking myself: Why aren’t these people looking for gas underneath all the abandoned coal mining land, where the ground is now barren because it has never been rehabilitated?”


Beef farmer Kerneels Jansen van Rensburg fears that gas test wells could pollute underground water on his land. (Photo: Tony Carnie)

He suggests that drilling below abandoned and unrehabilitated coal fields would make more sense than risking the future of so many productive farms.

“Are they going to frack? Will we end up with 10,000 gas wells scattered all over Mpumalanga?”

According to SLR, the appointed environmental consultants: “Rhino Oil and Gas has publicly confirmed that their corporate strategy will not be exploring for shale oil or gas and therefore will not use hydraulic fracturing as part of their planned exploration or potential future production.”

In a letter attached to the environmental scoping documents, Rogesa director Travis Smithard and Rhino Holdings SCSp Limited director Cor Timmermans declare that they have “no ambition or interest” in shale gas exploration or hydraulic fracturing (fracking) – a controversial method of extracting gas by blasting and fracturing underground rock formations with high-pressure water, sand and chemicals.

In some parts of the United States, tap water has been polluted by methane gas and other contaminants entering underground supplies in the vicinity of shale gas fracking operations.

Smithard and Timmermans state that: “Technically, we believe that there is no benefit to hydraulic fracturing” and that low-pressure gas deposits would be hard to monetise.

Therefore, they were “excited to play a role in South Africa’s transition towards affordable and reliable low-carbon energy, while contributing to the economic development of communities and protecting the environments in which we are privileged to operate”.


Rogesa boss Travis Smithard. (Photo: Linkedin)

But Van Rensburg says he is not buying this “promise”, noting that Rogesa is just an exploration company.

“Once they find oil or gas, they sell the rights to someone else (so any pledges by the exploration company would not be binding on a separate gas production company).”

Koos Davel, a civil engineering consultant who specialises in mine waste rehabilitation, is also taking Rogesa’s “smooth talk” with a pinch of salt.

Davel has been commissioned to provide technical advice to the newly established Highveld Farmers Mining Pressure Group.

“Rhino say they will be drilling down to about 1,200m to target gas that has permeated down into the sandstone. But gas is lighter than air. So how could gas permeate downwards? It just doesn’t make sense to me. There are just so many anomalies in what the consultants have told us.”

For example, he said, representatives of the gas exploration group told farmers that they would use a very narrow diameter test well to sample underground rock formations.

However, with such a narrow diameter well, the surface area for sampling tests was unlikely to be large enough to gather meaningful data, he argues.


An example of a gas drill rig. (Source: SLR scoping report)

Davel says he remains suspicious that the exploration company will resort to underground fracking to stimulate gas flows, despite the company’s pledge not to frack.

“And if they do frack, no one will know until many years later, when the groundwater has already been polluted. Who will be on-site to police what happens with 20 isolated wells scattered over such a large area? I think their ‘no fracking pledge’ is just nonsense.

“When the wetlands and pans have been polluted and nothing will grow here any more, it will be too late. No one will remember that some old man with white hair like me warned against this project… But someone needs to stand up, today, and say that this is wrong.”

Daily Maverick sent questions about the project to Rogesa on 13 September but has received no answers. Smithard said he was attending a series of meetings in London and would only be in a position to respond after returning to Cape Town on 20 September.

A further point of concern for farmers and other interest groups is that SLR and Rogesa have stated that initial exploration will be confined to a smaller area of land south of Ermelo – not the entire ER 379 exploration block which takes in the environmentally sensitive Chrissiesmeer Lake District – a network of around 270 interconnected lakes and pans which support a wide variety of waterbirds such as flamingo, cranes and other species.

Thousands of lesser flamingos stop over at the Chrisiesmeer lakes and pans during summer. (Photo: Peter Borradaile)

According to the SLR scoping report: “Should initial exploration within the current EIA extent identify a viable natural gas resource, Rhino will then apply for a separate environmental authorisation to undertake exploration within the remainder of the ER area not assessed as part of this EIA.”

However, several residents fear that Rogesa has deliberately adopted an incremental approvals strategy to dampen wider controversy and community pushback. Some also query whether there are sufficient legal safeguards in place to prevent Rogesa from exploring elsewhere in the 250,000ha block after obtaining initial authorisation from the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy.

Rogesa has previously lodged oil and gas exploration bids over large sections of the Free State and KwaZulu-Natal.

During a round of public consultation meetings in the KZN Midlands in 2015, the company received a hot reception from local farmers, schoolchildren, landowners and other public interest groups.

The objectors plastered the meeting venues with placards, some of which called on Rhino to “frack off”. Matthew Hemming, an environmental consultant for the gas and oil company, came out of one meeting to find the tyres of his vehicle had been slashed.

Adriaan Groenewald, a member of the new Mpumalanga farmers’ pressure group who attended a public consultation meeting with SLR and Rogesa officials in Ermelo on September 13, said:

“I got the feeling that there was a lot of smooth talk. The real matters of concern to us were smoothly evaded. The other problem is that the departments of agriculture and water were nowhere to be seen (at the Ermelo consultation meeting).

“We need to get the top brass involved to assist us with the dilemmas we’re facing… As we say in Afrikaans: ‘Hulle skitter in hulle afwesigheid’ (they shine in their absence).” DM

To register as an interested or affected party and receive more details about the project, contact Theo Wicks or GP Kriel of SLR by emailing RhinoER379@slrconsulting.com

[Lisbeth]

Wetlands are superheroes: expert sets out how they protect people and places

January 31, 2024 | Jacqueline L Raw
Research Associate, Institute of Coastal and Marine Research, Nelson Mandela University


Wetlands like this need protection because they absorb carbon dioxide and curb floods. Rodger Shagam/Getty Images

In the past, wetlands were often seen as undesirable landscapes – waterlogged areas that were difficult to navigate, impossible to build on or farm, and a source of pests such as mosquitoes. But the view on wetlands has shifted as we have learnt how important these ecosystems are for essential “services”. They purify water and provide habitats for plants and animals.

Wetlands are also critical for supporting some people’s livelihoods, particularly in developing countries, including water-scarce countries like South Africa. Wetlands provide over 1 billion livelihoods globally; 660 million people depend on them for aquaculture and fishing. Livestock owners rely on wetlands as a water source for their animals.

In the last decade, the potential for wetlands to help with climate change adaptation has become more recognised. Wetlands absorb the carbon dioxide (CO₂) that contributes to global warming, and they reduce some of the impacts of climate change by curbing floods.

As a researcher, I led South Africa’s first national assessment of coastal wetlands as “blue carbon” sinks. These are marine habitats that can take up and store more carbon than terrestrial forests. My research has also assessed the impact that climate change will have on mangrove forests, otherwise known as coastal wetlands.

This has given me insights into wetlands and their importance in helping prevent the worst effects of climate change.

Wetlands for people and planet

Wetlands can provide a “nature-based solution” to assist with climate change, but only if they are protected and managed. For example, wetlands absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (like all plants do), and convert this into organic carbon (which makes up the plant as it grows). This organic carbon is deposited into the wetland mud as the plant grows through seasonal cycles, and the waterlogged conditions help to trap it there and prevent it being released back into the atmosphere. This carbon can be locked up for decades or centuries, which is a meaningful timescale for tackling climate change challenges.


Sandvlei in Cape Town was flooded in October 2023. Protecting and restoring wetlands can help protect communities against floods. Ashraf Hendricks/ GroundUp

In addition to mitigating climate change, wetlands can help humans to adapt to climate change. Many coastal areas are prone to increased flooding as a result of climate change, due to a combination of higher intensity storms and rainfall as well as rising sea levels. Wetlands are considered “ecological infrastructure” that provides protection from flooding. They have been successfully incorporated into shoreline engineering.

Naturally occurring coastal wetlands (such as mangroves and salt marshes) can also buffer the effects of flooding if they are restored and maintained in good condition.

Unfortunately, in many urban areas these wetlands have been lost or replaced with hard infrastructure such as buildings or roads. The protection from wetlands is then lost and flooding or sea-level rise can be more severe. Detailed studies at the Knysna and Swartkops estuaries in South Africa have shown that salt marshes, another type of wetland, can provide protection from rising sea levels if they are restored.

What’s missing

For wetlands to continue to provide these services for climate mitigation and adaptation, their sustainability must be ensured. Many of these steps must be taken at the level of regional or national government, but individual citizens can also get involved.

Some actions that ordinary people can take to help preserve wetlands include:

• educating themselves and others about the value of wetlands

• participating in wetland restoration projects or clean-ups

• directly contributing to organisations that conserve wetlands, such as the South African Wetland Society and BirdLife South Africa

conserving water and reducing pollution from household chemicals

• advocating for planning and zoning of new housing and business park developments that include wetlands in their design.

Even with adequate protection, the ability of wetlands to provide a variety of important ecological services is also limited by certain thresholds. For example, catastrophic flooding can cause scouring and erosion of wetlands, wiping them out completely.

Careful planning must be put in place to prepare for climate change-caused disasters like this. The complexity of climate change means that solutions need to be complex too: both nature and human engineering are resources for mitigation and adaptation.

Solutions will also need to be designed for local conditions: there isn’t a general solution for the same challenge in different areas. For example, for a solution that involves creating wetlands as supporting infrastructure, the size of the wetlands and the number of wetlands can influence how effective the flood mitigation of an area will be in comparison to built infrastructure such as flood control reservoirs and dams. Creating natural infrastructure such as wetlands can provide a cost-effective solution to improve built infrastructure in this way.

[Lisbeth]

DEATH BY PARALYSIS

Slow demise — plea to end suffering of waterbirds in polluted Kimberley wetland


A photo from 2016 shows the previous abundance of lesser flamingos at Kamfers Dam in Kimberley. (Photo: Mark D Anderson)

By Tony Carnie | 09 Jan 2025

‘The birds become paralysed. They stop swimming and flying. They can’t stand up on land and they are unable to eat. Their eyelids droop and, finally, they can’t even hold their heads up above the water. So, they drown. Or just stop breathing from respiratory failure.’
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More than 150 waterbirds have died in the Kamfers Dam natural heritage site in the Northern Cape, due to another outbreak of avian botulism thought to be linked to sewage bacteria from the biggest wastewater treatment plant in the diamond city of Kimberley.

Now the avian conservation group Birdlife South Africa is calling on the Sol Plaatje Municipality to intervene and take immediate steps to improve conditions at the dam to halt further suffering by the birds.


Bennie Coetzer retrieves a dead waterbird from the edge of the dam. (Photo: Ester van der Westhuizen-Coetzer)


Paralysed by botulism, a South African shelduck lies close to the water’s edge. (Photo: Ester van der Westhuizen-Coetzer)

Birdlife said in a statement that the current crisis came to light in late November when Ester van der Westhuizen-Coetzer, environmental specialist at the Ekapa Minerals diamond mine, reported numerous dead and dying birds.

She told Daily Maverick this week that at least 150 birds had now died or been euthanased by a local vet.

“University of Pretoria pathology lab findings suggest botulism as the cause, likely worsened by bacterial imbalance from sewage from the Homevale Wastewater Treatment Works,” Birdlife stated.

Avian botulism is a paralytic disease linked to toxic Clostridium bacteria and exacerbated by low oxygen levels in water and the proliferation of maggots feeding on dead birds.

Lesser flamingos

In addition to numerous species of ducks and waterbirds, Kamfers Dam historically hosted southern Africa’s largest permanent population of lesser flamingos, with more than 80,000 recorded there in 2006.

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However, the flamingos have all but disappeared over more recent years due to rising water levels from the nearby sewage works which prevent these birds from building elevated nesting mounds on mudflats,


A red knobbed coot. (Photo: Ester van der Westhuizen-Coetzer)


A dead grey-headed gull. (Photo: Ester van der Westhuizen-Coetzer)


One of at least 150 waterbirds that have died in the dam over recent weeks. (Photo: Ester van der Westhuizen-Coetzer)

Several dozen birds also died in an outbreak of botulism four years ago, while the Department of Water and Sanitation has also served several warning notices on the Sol Plaatje municipality to reduce flows of untreated or poorly treated effluent from the nearby Homevale sewage works.

Van der Westhuizen-Coetzer said in a phone interview that she visited the dam at the weekend and collected several more dying birds to be euthanased.

“We remove dead birds from the water and take the dying ones to be put down, to spare them from further suffering,” she said.

“The birds become paralysed. They stop swimming and flying. They can’t stand up on land and they are unable to eat. Their eyelids droop and, finally, they can’t even hold their heads up above the water. So, they drown. Or just stop breathing from respiratory failure.”

Van der Westhuizen-Coetzer said new water samples had been collected as previous samples could not be analysed in laboratories over the recent holiday season.

She said a resident sought a court order against the municipality last year to restrict untreated sewage flows into Kamfers Dam but the case had been postponed till next month.


A paralysed Egyptian goose waits to die on the shoreline at Kamfers Dam. (Photo: Ester van der Westhuizen-Coetzer)


A victim of the avian botulism outbreak at Kamfers Dam. (Photo: Ester van der Westhuizen-Coetzer)

Birdlife noted that the Department of Water and Sanitation recently laid criminal charges against the municipality after previous government directives failed to improve the situation.

“As one of only four African breeding sites for lesser flamingos, supported by an artificial breeding island built in 2006, the site earned recognition as a Natural Heritage Site and Key Biodiversity Area.

“For the past four to five years, flamingos have been unable to breed due to artificially high water levels submerging the breeding island… The once-abundant flamingo population is sadly now only visible on local business signage.

‘Shocking deterioration’

BirdLife South Africa CEO Mark Anderson said: “It is shocking to see the extent to which the water quality has been permitted to deteriorate in Kamfers Dam… Birds are dying unnecessarily and in such numbers. We urge the Sol Plaatje Municipality to intervene without delay and take the required steps to improve conditions at Kamfers Dam for the sake of the birds, and the people of Kimberley.”

Responding to questions from Daily Maverick, the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) confirmed it had “initiated administrative enforcement action to instruct the Sol Plaatje Local Municipality to correct its failure to maintain required standard of effluent discharges into Kamfers dam”.

“Due to non-compliance with administrative enforcement, the Department has opened a criminal case against the municipality for pollution. The case is currently under investigation.”

In an official presentation in September 2023, a senior official of the Department of Water and Sanitation further confirmed that inspections revealed poor operation and maintenance of water and sanitation by the municipality,

The first warning notices were issued as far back as August 2015, followed by a series of DWS directives in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

“Representations were received by DWS from the municipality for some of the issued directives in which the municipality indicated that they are having financial challenges to address the problems identified.”

Two further directives were issued in 2022 following a series of meetings with municipal officials to discuss action plans.

Sol Plaatje spokesperson Thabo Mothibi said in response to questions that the municipality “planned to provide a comprehensive response in relation to efforts that are to unfold”.

“Collaborative efforts with the likes of Transnet will also be spoken into, especially around the funding that has been secured for remedial work. Arresting overflow and addressing the serious concerns raised are of a high priority. Hence, we can assure the public that deliberations have unfolded and we are ready to take action.

“An assault on environmental sustainability and a threat to the wellbeing of bird species warrant action,” he concluded. DM.

[Lisbeth]

Wetlands in South Africa’s Addo elephant park are in danger: what’s being done to protect them


Wetland in Addo Elephant Park, South Africa. Courtesy Nicholas Cole/SanParks

Published: January 30, 2025 - Dirk Roux
Specialist Scientist for SANParks, Adjunct Professor, Sustainability Research Unit, Nelson Mandela University

Nancy Job
Lead - Freshwater Biodiversity Programme, South African National Biodiversity Institute

The Addo Elephant National Park in South Africa was established 94 years ago to protect the last 11 elephants in the Eastern Cape region. Since then, the reserve has expanded to 155,000 hectares and today it’s home to lions, leopards, rhino, buffalo and more than 600 elephants. It also has 16 rivers and 437 wetlands. Freshwater scientists Nancy Job and Dirk Roux were part of a team who co-authored the South African National Parks and South African National Biodiversity Institute’s first ever inventory of the park’s rivers and wetlands. With an inventory in place, the park is better placed to conserve wetlands for South Africa and plan for the future.

What wetlands exist in the Addo Elephant National Park?

A wetland is a piece of land that is flooded with salt or fresh water most of the time. There are 437 wetlands of different types in the Addo park. To locate all the wetlands in the park, we conducted field surveys in close collaboration with the park staff. We were blown away by the exceptionally diverse landscapes we found. These ranged from arid inland steep rocky mountains and low-lying plains to higher altitude grassy ridges to sandy shores.

We found wetlands that had never before been documented. These included “dune-slack” coastal wetlands. These are wetlands in low-lying hollows which collect water between coastal dunes. Their overall size is ever-changing as the dunes are shifted by winds.


Coastal wetland in Addo. Courtesy Nicholas Cole/SANParks

These wetlands are a window into an underground aquifer of water held within the sand. This water is invisible from the surface, except as glimpsed through these wetlands. They may well support species unique to these dune fields, and are of national significance.

We discovered springs hidden within forested gorges (known locally as “kloofs”) and depression wetlands (shallow, bowl-like ponds that hold water for only a few months in the year) inside areas of thick, bushy vegetation.

These were revealed to us only through the care and guidance of the rangers who know the area so intimately. Memorable findings include a life-giving spring in a dry river bed, and crater-like depression wetlands on the plateaus of a mountainous area.

Why is it important to monitor these wetlands?

Rivers and wetlands (together with estuaries) are the most threatened and least protected ecosystem types in the country. They are also poorly documented and small in comparison with wetlands in other countries, making them difficult to detect.

Making an inventory of wetlands provides information about the type, condition, location, size and number of wetlands across an area, and the challenges that they face.

This is a first step towards managing and conserving these ecosystems. With each new inventory, the park contributes to the national knowledge base.

By the end of an inventory project, wetlands are no longer seen as mere wet spots in the landscape, but recognised as distinct ecosystems that support their own plant and animal life. This means the park is better placed to start to plan and monitor for the best outcomes for these ecosystems and the animals they support.

Why are the Addo Elephant National Park wetlands so important?


One of the Addo park’s wetlands. Courtesy Nicholas Cole/SANParks

The international treaty that protects wetlands (the Ramsar Convention) recognises the importance and critical ecological functions of small wetlands, such as those in the Addo park. In a dry climate such as South Africa’s, small wetlands play a huge role. They are water sources, and habitats or refuges for animals and people in times of drought or low rainfall.

During our research, the importance and lifeline that wetlands and springs held for historical settlement in the area was obvious. On one occasion, park rangers revealed to us a spring that had been modified, perhaps excavated, and a rock wall built to pond the water for ease of collection. In this very remote location, the spring had clearly supported the people and livestock that once lived there for many years before the area was declared a national park.

What are the major problems affecting the wetlands?

About 300 biodiversity scientists come up with a national assessment of South Africa’s biodiversity about every six years. This assessment shows that wetlands are highly threatened, meaning that almost no healthy wetlands remain. This is the case across South Africa, not just in the Addo park.

Wetlands inside national parks are just as threatened as they are outside parks. In the Addo park, this is partly explained by the fact that the park was extended in the early 2000s using land that had previously been commercially farmed.

In those areas, the natural water flow had been diverted into small dams suitable for livestock and crop farming. It was difficult for natural wetlands in the area to recover on their own.

The oldest section of the park, established in 1931, has experienced an ever-increasing elephant population. Elephants have a remarkable ability to transform landscapes – and wetlands. Even in large fenced parks, the movement of elephants is relatively restricted and so more elephants trample through wetlands. This raises an interesting trade-off between the conservation of these animals and that of wetlands.

How can the Addo wetlands be protected as the climate changes?


Addo park wetland. Courtesy Nicholas Cole/SANParks

The new inventory is a baseline document for rivers and wetlands in the park. The effects of climate change can be monitored against this baseline in future.

Climate change disrupts weather patterns. It puts a lot of pressure on water resources and freshwater ecosystems. It could mean that wetlands hold water for a shorter time in the future, due to water evaporating more quickly. Wetlands are likely to be affected by climate change with less frequent but more intense rainfall. This causes soil erosion, and less water seeps into the ground to regenerate wetlands.

It will become increasingly important to prevent invasive alien plants from spreading, to monitor the water-holding patterns in reference wetlands, and to monitor soil erosion and the use of water by animals.

(Nicholas Cole of SANParks co-authored this article).

[Richprins]

Interesting!

[Lisbeth]

[Lisbeth]

Protecting our ecological infrastructure, especially wetlands, is critical for water security

By Kate Handley | 25 Feb 2025

Kate Handley is an environmental attorney and co-founder of the Biodiversity Law Centre, a non-profit organisation that seeks to use the law to reverse the catastrophic decline of biological diversity in southern Africa.

Despite their vital importance, wetlands are under significant pressure from pollution, irresponsible agriculture, invasive species, climate change, and land use change more generally.
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“As we forge ahead with the reform agenda, an urgent priority is to ensure a secure and reliable supply of water across the country.” This is the commitment made by President Cyril Ramaphosa in his State of the Nation Address (Sona) on 6 February 2025.

Indeed, the right to have access to sufficient water is enshrined in section 27 of our Constitution. As the president aptly put it, it is impossible to live without water, and it is impossible for the economy to grow without water.

The difficulty is that while the president made several commitments in terms of how the development of water infrastructure is to proceed, no attention was given to the fundamental need to protect, conserve and restore our water resources, without which the promise of water for people and industry will never be fulfilled.

That many parts of South Africa are facing a water crisis is common cause. From Cape Town’s threatened “Day Zero” to the crippling water issues facing Gauteng, it is evident that the supply of water is being compromised by ageing infrastructure, water theft, pollution and climate change, among other things.

‘Decisive actions’

Ramaphosa placed emphasis on a series of “decisive actions” to address the water crisis. These include investment into and commencement of major water infrastructure projects like Phase 2 of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project and Umkhomazi Dam, and the Ntabelanga Dam on the Mzimvubu River.

The president also undertook to complete the establishment of the National Water Resource Infrastructure Agency to unlock much greater investment in water projects. The act in terms of which this state-owned company is to be established came into force on 7 February 2025.

But while investment into water infrastructure is welcome, it is concerning that sustainability of supply was not linked to the importance of protecting our water ecological infrastructure, and the concomitant role this plays in safeguarding water supply now, and for future generations.

Ecological infrastructure refers to the natural or semi-natural structural elements of ecosystems and landscapes that are important in delivering ecosystem services. Protecting water ecological infrastructure — such as wetlands — is essential for securing water supply because these natural systems provide critical services that support clean and sustainable water resources.

Here’s why it matters.

Wetlands perform a critical function in the provision of freshwater by naturally removing, filtering and absorbing pollutants, which reduces the purification load on built infrastructure, captures and stores rainwater and replenishes groundwater aquifers, and regulates water quantity and supply by releasing water at the right time to the right place.

This is in addition to other ecosystem-based adaptation services like protecting communities from storm surges and flood waters, the threat of which is increasing as we experience a hotter and hotter climate.

According to the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, wetlands play a role in supplying water that sustains 60% of the country’s population, more than 90% of urban water users, 67% of national economic activity and 70% of irrigated agriculture.

Just as with built infrastructure, it is important to manage, invest in and maintain ecological infrastructure — the nature-based equivalent. Ecological infrastructure has the potential to complement and, in some cases, substitute built infrastructure solutions for water resource management.

Cost-efficient

Investing in ecological infrastructure reduces the need for expensive artificial water storage and treatment facilities. Restoring and maintaining natural water systems is often more cost-efficient than building large-scale infrastructure like dams and desalination plants.

Investing in ecological infrastructure will not only have gains for biodiversity and water; it also creates jobs and strengthens local economies. Critically, it will also see the government fulfil its constitutional duty and Sona promise of water for the people.

There is so much potential for these natural systems to bolster the supply of freshwater so desperately needed in a water-scarce country like South Africa. But despite their critical importance, wetlands are under significant pressure from pollution, irresponsible agriculture, invasive species, climate change, and land use change more generally.

The White Paper on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of South Africa’s Biodiversity records that wetlands have the second highest overall proportion of threatened ecosystem types (79%), just less than estuaries (86%). Despite this threat status, estuaries and inland wetlands are also the least protected ecosystem types, with less than 2% of their extent in the “Well Protected” category.

This is not to say that legal and policy measures are not in place to protect wetlands and other important ecological infrastructure. Indeed, the National Water Act (1998) and National Water Resources Strategy (2023) provide a sound basis for the protection and ecologically sustainable use of water resources. The National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act (2003), which creates the framework for declaring protected areas, provides another mechanism in terms of which these critical systems may be safeguarded.

What is lacking is implementation. This is recognised in the National Water Resources Strategy, which stresses that “the difficulty facing the water sector is how to implement the policies and programmes for water resource protection in a cost-effective and sustainable manner within a reasonable time frame.”

Political will

But implementation starts with impetus. There needs to be political will to catalyse conservation efforts aimed at safeguarding water ecological infrastructure and securing the ecologically sustainable use of our water resources.

This starts from the top. If protecting wetlands and other ecological infrastructure is not an imperative driven at the highest level, and if it’s not raised as a priority in fora such as Sona, then it will probably not be a priority within the departments charged with such implementation. This must change.

Protecting water ecological infrastructure is not just an environmental issue — it’s an economic, social, and public health priority. By protecting our ecological infrastructure, the government will fulfil its constitutional duty to protect and preserve our precious natural resources and make good on promises such as those made at Sona. DM