WORLD WETLANDS DAY BY FIONA WAKELIN & JESSIE TAYLOR
Celebrating South Africa’s wetlands Crucial conservation areas
W
orld Wetlands Day is commemorated annually on 2 February on the anniversary of the adoption of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Convention) in 1971.
South Africa is a water-scarce country, where both droughts and floods are common. Wetlands are able to reduce the severity of
droughts and floods by regulating stream flow – they also help to purify water which allows for ecosystems, plants, and animals to flourish. Wetlands play an important part in river catchments both directly and indirectly by contributing to flooding control, drought relief, water storage, sediment and nutrient retention, and water purification, among others. RAISING AWARENESS OF WETLANDS South Africa is one of the Contracting Parties to the
40 | Public Sector Leaders | February 2024
Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Convention). South Africa signed the Ramsar Convention at its inception. The membership was formalised in 1975 when South Africa became the fifth country to ratify the Convention. One of the obligations of the Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention is to commemorate World Wetlands Day.
