On World Wetlands Day on February 2, De Berg Nature Reserve was officially declared South Africa’s 30th Ramsar site under the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance.
At an elevation of just over 2 300m above sea level, the Ramsar site just north of Dullstroom contains the highest altitude wetlands in Mpumalanga, consisting of numerous valley bottom, seep wetlands and mountain streams, and represents some of the most pristine and habitat-diverse watercourses in the South African grassland biome.
Through the Working for Wetlands Programme, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) has invested over R1.4 billion (€68.4m) in the rehabilitation of 1 873 wetlands and created 43 662 jobs. The Working for Wetlands Programme, which commenced in 2000, is being implemented in South Africa’s nine provinces by a dedicated team of experts working closely with communities.
“The conservation and restoration of wetlands is crucial to achieving many of our national and global sustainable development goals. Estuaries, marshes and vleis, rivers and lakes, and the biodiversity that they preserve, matter for our health, food supply, tourism, and jobs. Wetlands are vital for humans, ecosystems and our climate, providing essential ecosystem services such as water regulation, including flood control and water purification,” said DFFE Minister, Barbara Creecy.
The new Ramsar site supports numerous pristine headwater wetlands containing a variety of threatened, critically endangered and vulnerable species of plants (878 species) and animals (18 frog species, 71 reptile species, 432 bird species and 120 mammal species).
Many of these are also rare and vulnerable and include flocks of up to 30 of the vulnerable Southern Bald Ibis which roosts on the cliffs above Ibis Falls, one of 10 waterfalls that can be found at the site.
For a wetland to be designated to the Ramsar list, it must satisfy one or more of the criteria for identifying wetlands of international importance. This includes sites with rare wetland types that are in a good condition, and which support the critical life cycle stages of threatened species or of species that are rare both globally and in South Africa.
Each Ramsar site in South Africa is managed by a dedicated management authority that includes national and provincial government departments and conservation agencies, cities, and private landowners, often supported by the activities of various non-governmental organisations.
