WORLD WETLANDS DAY
Wetlands support the animals we love and the places they live. They also support the people we love and the places we live. This World Wetlands Day, it’s important that we recognize our responsibility to support them back. Water is the lifeblood of nature and the wetlands are its heart. Read more in our latest blog about World Wetlands Day and how our Ukuwela Nature Reserve is protecting this very threatened ecosystem.
Our planet is a blue one, 71% of its surface being made up of water. Only 2.5% of that water is fresh, mostly stored as glaciers and underground. Only 0.01% of the Earth’s surface is made up of freshwater habitat, yet it supports over 100,000 known species and plays vital roles in global ecological processes. Proportionately, wetlands and freshwater ecosystem are quite possibly the most impactful and important ecosystems in the world!
Still, 90% of wetlands have been lost since the 1700s. 25% of wetland species and 1/3 of freshwater species are facing extinction.
February 2nd marks the 50th World Wetlands Day, established after the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands in 1971. The convention is a treaty observed by almost 90% of UN member states that aims to create the framework for wetland conservation and sustainable use. It has never been more important than now to call attention to them, acknowledge their current struggle, and talk about how we can/are helping.
Biodiversity
Wetlands and freshwater ecosystems are some of the most productive ecosystem types in the world, on par with rainforests and coral reefs in terms of the biodiversity they support. Not only do they support animals that migrate to them for mating and feeding, but they support a huge number of endemic species. An extensive food web is built upon the success of primary producers such as plants, which thrive in wetlands because of their access to water. Organic matter breaks down in the shallow waters, supporting small organisms and creating the scaffolding for countless species of fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and more. Maintaining a stable source of water and food, even in dry periods, a wetland’s impact extends far beyond its boundaries
Wetlands are vital for the existence of numerous species including this hippo, pictured above.
Ecosystem Services
Wetlands perform many significant ecosystem services that are crucial in the fight to protect and restore our natural world and that we rely on in our day to day lives. Approximately 2.2 billion people live without access to clean water and our water use is only increasing. The shallow fresh water of wetlands provides ideal conditions for microbes to help regulate the water shed, helping to clean the water for the numerous species that rely on it, including us. Amongst the microbes, the plants, large quantities of peat moss, and more, wetlands have the ability to sequester gargantuan amounts of carbon dioxide and other pollutants, significantly lessening the impact of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. And as climate change influences our weather patterns and we see more extreme weather activity, wetlands act as a protective barrier for us, significantly reducing the strength of storms and hurricanes, and providing a safe place for flood waters to divert to.
Wetlands are facing serious threats as they deal with over harvesting/habitat loss, pollution, invasive species, and dams. Despite their ability to neutralize many threats, about 35% of existing wetlands were lost between 1970 and 2015 making this ecosystem one of the most imperiled. Of South Africa’s 791 wetland ecosystem types, 48% are critically endangered, 12% are endangered, 5% are vulnerable, and 35% are least threatened to make wetlands the most threatened ecosystems of all in South Africa. Over 70% of South Africa’s wetland ecosystem types have no protection and only 11% are well protected.Wild Tomorrow Fund is actively working to keep and restore our wetlands, allowing their benefits to be enjoyed near and far.
iSimangaliso Wetland Park, our neighbor, is made up of the largest estuarine system in Africa. As a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it houses extensive diversity and pristine habitat, provides vital ecosystem services, and is recognized globally for its importance and beauty. It is also recognized by the Convention on Wetlands as having four Ramsar sites of international importance including Lake St. Lucia, the largest estuarine lake in southern Africa.
How our Ukuwela Nature Reserve is protecting freshwater and wetlands
The Msinene River, running through our Ukuwela Conservancy, feeds into this system. The success and far reaching impact that these wetlands have is largely dependent on the water that is fed into it, so it is our responsibility to ensure that we are maintaining the best possible conditions for those waters. Just by protecting this land, chemical run off from the pineapple farms that likely would have been here is avoided and a healthy river bank plant community helps to remove pollutants introduced further upstream. We regularly hire our friends, the Green Mambas, an all women group from the neighboring Mdhuku community, to remove the invasive Chromolaena odarata, which uses large amounts of the available fresh water and prevents the regeneration of native species. iSimangaliso has been fighting invasives that impact diversity and the water table for years. Our careful removal of Chromolaena aids in their fight by preventing further invasion of seeds traveling along the Msinene. These changes help to improve the quality and availability of water in the area, benefitting people and wildlife alike.
One of the next big steps for Wild Tomorrow Fund is our exciting work to establish a corridor, creating contiguous and healthy habitat across multiple reserves and conservancies, including iSimangaliso.
Allowing for the movement of animals between these reserves would ease the impact of habitat fragmentation, restoring critical natural processes and interactions such as seasonal migrations, seed dispersal, ecosystem engineering and more. These contribute to the health and perseverance of the various nearby ecosystem types, including the vulnerable subtropical freshwater wetlands and Maputaland clay bushveld, both of which we are working to protect. Healthy habitat improves the quality of the water feeding the wetlands in the same way we’re working to improve water quality from the Msinene River. Healthy wetlands included in a vast contiguous habitat will promote the amazing diversity they are known for, helping conserve populations of rare and endemic species, and garnering further awareness of the importance of the world’s wetlands.
The corridor we are working to create will connect multiple large natural reserves, including iSimangaliso Wetland Park.
Wetlands support the animals we love and the places they live. They support the people we love and the places we live. This World Wetlands Day, it’s important that we recognize our responsibility to support them back. Water is the lifeblood of nature and the wetlands are its heart.
Donate here to support our habitat protection work at the Ukuwela Nature Reserve and help us to continue to protect precious freshwater and wetlands in South Africa.