MEDIA STATEMENT

MIDDLEPUNT NATURE RESERVE DESIGNATED AS SOUTH AFRICA’s 29th WETLAND OF INTERNATIONAL IMPORTANCE

5 APRIL 2023

The Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Ms Barbara Creecy, has welcomed the declaration of Middelpunt Nature Reserve as South Africa’s 29th Ramsar site.

The declaration of South Africa’s 29th wetland of international importance comes less than a year since the declaration of the Berg Estuary in the Western Cape as South Africa’s 28th Ramsar Site under the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance.

“This is a further indication of how important it is to conserve and protect our country’s wetlands. Wetlands unique environmental features that not only provide clean water through their natural filtration systems, but also because they provide habitats to a variety of species, including migratory birds,” said the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Ms Barbara Creecy.

Middelpunt Nature Reserve (MNR) is situated along the headwaters of the Lakenvleispruit in the Olifants River basin, approximately 14 kilometres from the town of Dullstroom in Mpumalanga. The site is situated in one of South Africa’s highest rainfall regions known as the Mpumalanga Drakensburg Strategic Water Source Area (SWSA). This region consists primarily of a permanent freshwater valley bottom wetland, supported by lateral seeps and artesian springs.

The Ramsar site is home to one of the rarest and most threatened waterbirds in Africa, the White-winged Flufftail. Ethiopia was thought to be the only country where White-winged Flufftail breed and recently the first breeding record was made at Middelpunt Nature Reserve, establishing that a breeding population exists outside of Ethiopia.

At the AEWA meeting held in Budapest, South Africa won an award for the conservation of the white-winged flufftail in recognition of our conservation efforts for this endangered rare bird species.

The site also contributes significantly to conserving the genetic and ecological diversity of the Steenkampsberg Mountain Grasslands and provides habitat for a number of other endangered and endemic species, including the Blue Crane, Secretary Bird, African Grass Owl, and Denham's Bustard.

The site is one of just two in South Africa where the rare peat borrowing crab is found. Middelpunt Wetland contains a peat layer between 1.5 and 2.6 meters deep, accumulating at a rate of 0.36 millimeters per year. This provides an important ecosystem service to the global community by sequestering carbon from the atmosphere.

For media queries contact Albi Modise on 083 490 2871

ISSUED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF FORESTRY, FISHERIES AND THE ENVIRONMENT

EDITORS NOTE:

The Ramsar Convention is an intergovernmental treaty adopted on 2 February 1971 in Ramsar (Iranian City) and currently has 171 contracting parties. South Africa (SA) became a contracting party to the Ramsar Convention in 1975, which was then the 5th signatory to the Convention.

The Ramsar Convention encourages the designation of sites containing representative, rare or unique wetlands, or wetlands that are important for conserving biological diversity. Once designated, these sites are added to the Convention's List of Wetlands of International Importance and become known as Ramsar sites. In designating a wetland as a Ramsar site, countries agree to establish and oversee a management framework aimed at conserving the wetland and ensuring its wise use. Wise use under the Convention is broadly defined as maintaining the ecological character of a wetland. Wetlands can be included on the List of Wetlands of International Importance because of their ecological, botanical, zoological, limnological or hydrological importance.

For a wetland to be designated to this list it must satisfy one or more of the criteria for identifying wetlands of international importance. This include sites with wetlands in a good condition that support the critical life cycle stages of threatened species or of species that are rare both globally and in South Africa. They also include places where more than 20 000 bird species may be found or where more than 1% of a population of a specific bird species occurs. The Ramsar Criteria also apply to wetland areas that support other species of conservation concern such as rare, and threatened fish, plants, reptiles and mammals, especially when the occur in large numbers.

South Africa currently has 29 Ramsar Sites. Each site is managed by a dedicated management authority which includes national and provincial government departments and conservation agencies, cities and private landowners, often supported by the activities of various non-governmental organisations.

List of Wetlands of International Importance in South Africa

  1. Barberspan
  2. Berg Estuary
  3. Blesbokspruit
  4. Bot - Kleinmond Estuarine System
  5. Dassen Island Nature Reserve
  6. De Hoop Vlei
  7. De Mond
  8. Dyer Island Provincial Nature Reserve and Geyser Island Provincial Nature Reserve
  9. False Bay Nature Reserve
  10. Ingula Nature Reserve
  11. Kgaswane Mountain Reserve
  12. Kosi Bay
  13. Lake Sibaya
  14. Langebaan
  15. Makuleke Wetlands
  16. Natal Drakensberg Park
  17. Ndumo Game Reserve
  18. Ntsikeni Nature Reserve
  19. Nylsvley Nature Reserve
  20. Orange River Mouth
  21. Prince Edward Islands
  22. Seekoeivlei Nature Reserve
  23. St. Lucia System
  24. Turtle Beaches/Coral Reefs of Tongaland
  25. uMgeni Vlei Nature Reserve
  26. Verloren Valei Nature Reserve
  27. Verlorenvlei
  28. Wilderness Lakes
  29. Middelpunt Wetland

 

 

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