The Importance of Wetlands

By ​Renée Grundling

World Wetlands Day was celebrated on the 2nd of February, an annual day to celebrate the  Ramsar Convention signed at Ramsar, Iran in 1971. South Africa was one of the first countries globally to sign the treaty. This year's theme is 'Wetlands and Biodiversity'.

There are currently more than 2300 designated Ramsar Sites, sites of international importance, all across the world. The above photo is one of the newest Ramsar Sites (no.2385), officially declared in September, 2019, and can be found in the Kgaswane Mountain Reserve, Rustenburg, South Africa. This wetland system is situated on a plateau in the Magaliesberg mountain range and has a variety of special characteristics including peat. 
For more information go to https://whc.unesco.org/en/ramsar/. ​

In the following video, Dr. Piet-Louis Grundling discusses the importance of Wetlands: