Issued by: Ministry of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
ADDRESS BY DR. Z. PALLO JORDAN, MINISTER OF ENVIRONEMENTAL AFFAIRS AND TOURISM
RAMSAR SOUTHERN AFRICAN SUB-REGIONAL MEETING 2 FEBRUARY 1998 FARM INN HOTEL, PRETORIA
Ladies and gentlemen I would like to welcome you here today, at the Southern African Ramsar Meeting. Today, February 2nd is World Wetlands Day, and this is an ideal date for the commencement of this meeting. Today's meeting forms part of the South African Wetland Conservation Programme which we are implementing to enable South Africa to meet the obligations we assumed as a contracting party to the Ramsar Convention, and to further promote the conservation of wetlands throughout southern Africa. Our country has played a leading role in the development of the Convention on Wetlands or the Ramsar Convention. We were the fifth country world-wide and the first in Africa to join the Convention.
As the only member country of Wetlands International in the Southern African sub-region and as one of the five contracting parties to the Ramsar Convention in the Southern African Developing Countries (SADC), South Africa is committed to playing a leading role in the development of the convention in the sub-region.
On World Wetlands Day this year we are emphasising the importance of wetlands for water quality, water quantity and water regulation.
Since 1975 South Africa has forwarded 16 sites to the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance. Today we are announcing that two more sites are proposed for listing in the near future, namely Nylsvlei Nature Reserve and the Limpopo/Luvuvhu floodplain and pans.
The Nylsvlei Nature Reserve forms part of the largest floodplain vlei in South Africa. It is well known for the exceptional diversity of its bird life. There are 370 bird species in the reserve. More waterfowl species - 102 thus far - have keen recorded on this floodplain than on any other wetland in the country. The endangered Roan antelope (Hippotragus equinus) and rare Tsessebe (Damaliscus Lunatus) also occur on this reserve.
The Limpopo/Luvuvhu floodplain and pans encompass a number of landscape features which include riverine forest, riparian floodplain forest, floodplain grassland, river channels and thirty one seasonally flooded pans. The riverine forest is mostly confined to the banks of the Limpopo and Luvuvhu Rivers, and consists of large, broad canopied trees over 20m in height. This is a very important habitat for a large variety of organisms, which are dependent on this riparian zone in this dry landscape. In addition, floodplain grassland communities occur on both the Limpopo and Luvuvhu floodplains. The pans provide important breeding and feeding habitats for a variety of animals and birds. The pans of the Limpopo River floodplain hold water well into the dry season, thereby creating important refuge areas for wildlife during the drier winter months. They also provide an important waterbird habitat during both summer and winter months in wet years and serve as a stopover for many migratory waterbirds. These wetlands also have the potential of becoming a cross border sites we can share our neighbours, with Botswana and Mozambique.
We have encountered a host of problems in trying to protect our wetlands. Even Ramsar sites have sometimes been directly under threat. Not too long ago there was a suggestion made that the possibility of mining the dunes of the St Lucia wetland be explored. We have also been confronted with the threat posed by the release of raw mine water into Blesbokspruit.
St Lucia is a very shallow lake linked to the sea by a long, narrow estuary. It is probably one of the largest estuarine systems in Africa. This system was saved when the South African government announced that no mining would be allowed at St Lucia. Since then I accepted a proposal that the area be utilised as an ecotourism destination. Our government has been identified this area for infrastructure development, as part of a Trilateral Spatial Development Initiative (SDI) we are evolving together with Swaziland and Mozambique. We are well on our way to realising various ecotourism anchor projects in the Greater St. Lucia Wetland.
The problem at Blesbokspruit persists. But I will not elaborate on this right now as you will be visiting the site and will be able to judge for yourselves and pose all your questions directly to the experts.
The wetlands through the continent and the region, perhaps demonstrate most graphically the interdependence of the earths eco- systems. Waders from as far away as the Russian Tundra winter in the wetlands of Southern Africa; and many of our our birds fly to other parts of the world as part of their life cycle.
I hope that this meeting, Ladies and gentlemen, will give us all a greater insight into the importance of wetlands and the need to implement the Ramsar Convention to protect all the wetlands of the southern African sub region not only for ourselves, but for the world.
Thank you.