Wetlands of South Africa

GI Cowan (ed).1995.

Wetland losses in South Africa

DC Kotze, CM Breen & N Quinn

Abstract

There is a general lack of information concerning wetland losses in South Africa. That which does exist, however, indicates clearly that the loss of wetlands has been high, with loss appearing to be greatest in the coastal belt and inland margin zones of South Africa. As wetlands have many values to society, this paper emphasises that a concerted effort should be made to collect wetland loss information for South Africa. It is stressed that in order to plan for the effective conservation and management of wetlands, quantification of wetland loss should be done in terms of wetland type, the causes of wetland loss and the physiographic features of areas where loss is occurring. The various techniques available for assessing wetland loss are also discussed and recommendations are made for a national wetlands inventory. In addition, it is considered important that the loss of specific wetland values (eg water purification) is considered and that human factors contributing to wetland loss are accounted for. Finally, it is emphasised that unless efforts to estimate wetland loss form part of a national wetland conservation strategy that gives adequate consideration to the human factors contributing to wetland loss, efforts to collect wetland loss information will be wasted.

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	This page is maintained by the South African Wetlands Conservation Programme and was last updated on 12 January 1999.

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