By Deon Schlechter
WINDHOEK – In Namibia, World Wetlands Day 2015, as in the previous years, will be jointly commemorated with World Water Day which is celebrated on 22 March each year.
This national event will be held at the Bwabwata Okavango Ramsar Site in Kavango East at the Kamutjonga Inland Fisheries Institute, on 25 and 26 March 2015. The day will commemorate both World Wetlands and World Water Day under the theme “Wetlands and Water for a sustainable future.” Namibia will join the rest of the world to celebrate wetlands, to raise awareness on the value and threats to our wetlands resources, and to encourage our youth to get involved in the wise use, conservation and management of these valuable assets. “Wetlands provide us not only with precious water but with many other wetland resources, benefits and services. Communities living near the few permanent rivers and in the Cuvelai basin depend on wetlands for fish and on the reeds and trees supported by the wetlands for building materials. Because the rivers and iishana bring much needed nutrients, palatable grazing is found around and along wetlands. Wetlands help in slowing floods by absorbing and holding water. Wetlands help purify water and recharge groundwater and they act as carbon sinks.”
“Wetlands are also home to a diversity of plants and animals and the international importance of wetlands was first officially recognised more than 40 years ago because of the birds they support and their importance as habitats to migrating birds. This recognition of the international importance of wetlands brought countries together in a town called Ramsar in Iran to adopt the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance known as the Ramsar Convention,” says Minister of Agriculture, Water and Forestry, John Mutorwa, in his special message to celebrate the event.
As in the past, World Wetlands and World Water Day event will target the youth involving Grade 6 and 9 learners from local schools around Divundu and Andara. The observation will also involve the Nature Conservation students from the Polytechnic of Namibia. The schools will be invited to prepare a short drama about the Okavango river wetlands and what they can do to help ensure a sustainable future for the wetland and those that depend on the resources it provides. The school learners and Polytechnic students will also participate educational excursions, which will include a game drive in Muhango core area, identification of forest trees alongside the river at Frans Dimbare, a visit to nearby Agricultural schemes and the assessment of the water quality at Popa Falls by looking at the aquatic invertebrates in the river. After the filed excursion the learners, together with the students form the Polytechnic of Namibia, will prepare a presentation and give feedback on their experience to invited dignitaries on March 26.
“We know that wetlands are under enormous environmental pressure due to human activities. Threats to wetlands include:
- Increasing pollution due to poor waste management and the use of agricultural fertilizers and pesticides
- Over utilization of wetlands resources, like fish, reeds, water and trees due to population growth
- High demand for water which can lead to over-abstraction
- Siltation due to soil erosion caused by deforestation, overgrazing and other inappropriate land use
- Increase of alien and invasive species
- Physical alteration of wetlands for agricultural and urban development,” Mutorwa stresses.
For more information about World Wetlands/World Water Day 2015 observation, contact Cynthia Ortmann, Ndina Nashipili and Margaret Kalo at telephone 061-208 7169, 208 7156 and 208 77 19.