City of Cape Town is celebrating World Wetlands Day, for which the Deputy Mayor and Member of the Mayoral Committee for Spatial Planning and Environment – Alderman Eddie Andrews said that staff from the Biodiversity Management Branch and the River Wardens rolled up their sleeves securing the pathways and clearing up the pollution and invasive vegetation within the surrounding area on the eastern shore of the Zeekoevlei section of False Bay Nature Reserve.
The theme for World Wetlands Day 2025 is ‘Protecting Wetlands for Our Common Future’. Andrews said that he witnessed true environmental stewardship at the Zeekoevlei section of False Bay Nature Reserve.
Eddie Andrews added that together with the River wardens they cleared weeds, opened pathways, put in latte to indicate the formal route to prevent eroding of the vegetation, picked up litter and removed invasive vegetation. They also officially unveiled the access point for Pelican Park residents.
False Bay Nature Reserve is surrounded by the residential developments and hosts a wide range of communities. The location of the reserve in the heart of the city is a living example of the efforts to create a balanced approach for sustainable urban expansion.
The City of Cape Town is blessed with many naturally biodiverse spaces intertwined throughout the cityscape. It was the first reserve within the boundaries of the city to be designated a RAMSAR site, on World Wetlands Day in year 2015.
However, the wetland must meet nine specific criteria, related to its ecological value, in order to achieve RAMSAR status, including its abundance of biodiversity, species rarity and migratory capacity.
Moreover, the wetlands are highly interconnected and biodiverse, they link mountains to oceans, span national borders, connect habitats, provide a safe haven and facilitate the species migration. Wetlands sequester carbon, will filter waterbodies and will provide food to over 40% of plants and animals globally.
The biological status of wetland ecosystem types is precarious in South Africa with 48% categorised as critically endangered. Additionally, South Africa has already lost approx. 50% of wetland expanse to urban encroachment and pollution.
Considering this, the City of Cape town also honoured the protection of wetlands for a common future through one of the priority projects of the city Mayor, ‘the River warden Skills Development Programme’, which is aimed at marginalised groups within low-income communities surrounding the nature reserves of the city, to empower individuals with experience in conservation-based stewardship.