Elandsbaai - By protecting its wetlands, South Africa will not only be able to conserve its natural resources, but will also create many more jobs, the Deputy Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs Rejoice Mabudafhasi, said today.
Mabudafhasi was on a visit to Verlorenvlei, a wetland on the West Coast near Elandsbaai, during today's annual World Wetlands Day.
She singled out the government's Working for Wetlands and Working for Water programmes, which had helped to create many jobs.
"Don't just take those evasive species out, they [can] create employment," said Mabudafhasi who pointed out that instead of workers simply throwing away the wood, they could use it to make items such as furniture and coffins.
She said contrary to popular belief that the rural poor would be ill-equipped to conserve wetlands, people in rural areas were best placed to understand how wetlands work and how to protect them and take advantage of the economic opportunities that these water bodies provided.
Addressing delegates, including officials from several local municipalities, as well as deputy mayors and mayors from 20 cities around the world, Mabudafhasi said it was significant that World Wetlands Day was held on the same day as the unbanning of the ANC and other political parties by former President FW de Klerk 21 years ago.
She questioned whether the world was now freeing the environment as political parties had been freed and pointed out that the country's 115 wetlands faced many challenges, most notably threats from urbanisation and mining.
Wetlands are valuable natural resources as they are able to improve water quality, reduce flood impacts, control erosion and sustain river flows, said Mabudafhasi.
"Of special importance is the role wetlands play in ensuring a steady supply of clean water for communities and help government save hundreds of millions that would be required to set up purification plants and the labour cost," she said.
"Therefore, careful consideration should be given to the continued destruction of wetlands."
Also speaking at the event, Bergrivier Municipality Mayor Kobie Liebenberg said any conservation of wetlands had to be tied to the economic opportunities that local communities could take advantage of.
"You can preach bio-diversity, but if there are with empty stomachs, you go nowhere," said Liebenberg.
The delegates - including officials from the Departments of Environmental Affairs, Water Affairs, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the Water Research Commission, South African National Biodiversity Institute (Sanbi) and Working for Wetlands - are attending a four-day workshop, which started on Tuesday and is being held in the Bergrivier Municipality.
Penny Hulse, the deputy mayor of Auckland, New Zealand, told Mabudafhasi that she wanted to "acknowledge from the bottom of my heart" the deputy minister's commitment to South Africans improving the environment.
Also in attendance, the deputy mayor of Jerusalem Naomi Tsur, said she hoped world leaders would come to see how natural resources such as wetlands can prove more valuable to the world.
Verlorenvlei, one of the largest inland bodies of water on the west coast of South Africa, is one of 20 wetlands designated as a Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.
Recently, Verlorenvlei has come under severe pressure from agricultural activities, including groundwater abstraction and poor farming methods with resultant poor water quality.
Alien vegetation in the upper catchment impacts on water flow and the estuary mouth is frequently closed because of sediment build-up and poor water movement.
In 2006, with funding provided by the Department of Environmental Affairs, Working for Wetlands and CapeNature embarked on a rehabilitation project that mainly involved clearing invasive alien vegetation and included removing impediments to water flow, reducing sedimentation and conducting an awareness campaign.
A total of R5.2 million has so far been spent on Verlorenvlei and about 45 job opportunities created annually.
Two teams from Elands Bay and Redelinghuys have already made a visible impact on the problem, clearing 140 ha of land of alien vegetation.
The temporary jobs and training provided by Working for Wetlands contribute to the objectives of government's Expanded Public Works Programme, which seeks to draw significant numbers of the unemployed into productive work, and provide these workers with skills.
Most of the work is being conducted on privately-owned land and contracts are signed with all landowners.
