Up to 87% of global wetlands have been lost in the past 300 years, 1/3 of those just since 1970. The world’s ‘wetland blindness’ is inexplicable given the pivotal role of healthy wetlands in delivering global commitments on climate change, sustainable development & biodiversity. Wetland loss has significantly contributed to the huge loss of species populations over the same … [Read more...]
Swimmers brave pollution to highlight poor river health
On Sunday 9 February Cape Town open water swimmer Andrew Chin, along with fellow athletes Dr Mandy Uys and Joy Roach from East London, swam a 10km stretch of the Bronkhorstspruit River in Gauteng. This formed part of their broader Swim for Rivers campaign, which aims to raise awareness around the poor state of our country’s rivers and to highlight the urgent need to restore … [Read more...]
Wetlands: Connecting people and planet
What comes to mind when you think of wetlands, swamps, fens, bogs, or marshes? Not long ago most people perceived them to be muddy problem areas that bred mosquitoes. Not understanding their crucial role in nature, wetlands were drained to make way for farmland or development. As our knowledge increases of how wetlands work, they are being recognised as wet wonderlands. … [Read more...]
Celebrating World Wetlands Day in KZN
On 2 February, The Deputy Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, Ms Rejoice Mabudafhasi, led South Africa’s World Wetlands Day celebrations at the Mbongolwane Sports Field, Eshowe, in KwaZulu-Natal. The Deputy Minister was joined by the KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Agriculture and Environmental Affairs, Dr BM Radebe; Executive Mayor of Uthungulu, Thembeka Mchunu; and … [Read more...]
World Wetlands Day
2 February each year is World Wetlands Day. This day marks the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the shores of the Caspian Sea. Each year since 1997, the Ramsar Secretariat has provided materials so that government agencies, non-governmental organizations, conservation organizations, and groups of citizens … [Read more...]
Tourism industry urged to raise awareness
World Wetlands Day on 2 February marks the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971, in Ramsar, Iran. The aim of the convention is to protect the World’s highly sensitive and declining natural wetlands and to raise awareness of the importance and value of wetlands to people around the globe. The Convention has been signed by almost all national governments … [Read more...]
First nation-wide government effort to restore wetlands
A non-governmental wetland conservation programme established in 1991, Mondi Wetlands Programme is a partnership between two of SA’s largest conservation NGO’s (WESSA and WWF) together with the funding from two corporates (Mazda Wildlife Fund and Mondi Ltd). The programme was started with the aim to raise awareness of the strategic importance of wetlands to facilitate proper … [Read more...]
Celebrating 41 years of wetland protection
This year the theme of World Wetlands Day will be ‘Wetlands & Tourism,’ celebrated on Thursday 2 February 2012. This will celebrate the 41st anniversary of the Ramsar Convention, an intergovernmental treaty signed on 2 February 1971 in Iran for the protection of wetlands worldwide. 160 countries have since signed the treaty. World Wetlands Day will also create an … [Read more...]
