Information You Should Know About World Wetlands Day In Zimbabwe.
Celebrated annually on 2 February, World Wetlands Day aims to raise global awareness about the vital role of wetlands for people and planet. The Day also marks the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the shores of the Caspian Sea.
2021 marks the 50th anniversary of the Ramsar Convention and the 2021 theme is ‘Wetlands and Water’. This highlights the role wetlands play in:
- clean water
- water supply
- ecosystem resilience
- sustainable livelihoods and jobs
- biodiversity conservation
- storm protection
- carbon storage
- climate change adaptation
- health and well-being
- tourism and recreation
Zimbabwe joins the rest of the world in commemorating World Wetlands Day, since May 2013, Zimbabwe has been a party to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, which seeks to protect and preserve wetlands. Local laws, including the 2006 Environmental Management Act and the Environmental Assessment and Ecosystem Protection Regulations of 2007, provide for the protection of wetlands.
Zimbabwe has designated 7 wetland sites of international importance covering 453,828 hectares of land. These wetland sites are protected in terms of section 73 of the Constitution, the Environmental Management Act and the Environmental Impact Assessment and Ecosystems Protection Regulations. According to section 2 of the Environmental Management Act, wetlands are defined as “areas of marsh, fen, peat-land or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including riparian land adjacent”. These areas provide numerous environmental, economic and social services such as pollutant removal, wildlife habitats, groundwater recharge and often not discussed, carbon sequestration.
What is Carbon Sequestration ?
Carbon sequestration is the process of capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide.
Zimbabwe has been affected by the adverse effects of climate change, and wetlands can abate these climatic effects by naturally regulating the quantity and timing of water discharge during droughts. An inverse role in times of floods can also be undertaken by wetlands assuming a buffering and flood storage service. On the whole, wetlands provide climate change adaptation livelihood services in the form of fuelwood, bark and timber. The tragic rate at which wetland destruction is currently occurring however threatens to jeopardise this vital livelihood coping mechanism.
The variety of wetlands that exist in Zimbabwe has been identified, described and mapped in one form or the other by various institutions and individuals. These ecosystems are dynamic and hence details could change over a short period.
Flood Plains
Flood plains are associated with the major drainage systems and tend to be well developed in low lying flat areas. Zimbabwe is located on a plateau and hence there are few small flood plains. These are found in the Zambezi Valley and around the Save-Runde confluence in the southeastern part of the country. Currently flood plains are being used for safari hunting and tourism.
Pans
Pans are depressions that collect and retain water from the surrounding uplands. They are generally saline due to the accumulation of salts brought by water that eventually evaporates. A few pans occur in the drier and hotter environments of the country which include the western districts (Tsholotsho Communal Areas and Hwange National Park) and the southern districts (Gonarezhou National Park and Mwenezi). Those pans that occur in human settlement areas are used for cattle grazing and watering, while those located in national parks are habitats for water fowl and visited by game and tourists.
Swamps
There are few swamps in Zimbabwe and the notable ones are located in low rainfall areas in the southern and northeastern parts of the country. The Binga Swamp in the Goromonzi District is in danger of drying out due to excessive utilization pressure. These swamps are used for grazing and livestock watering (Matiza, 1994).
Artificial impoundments (dams)
There are over 8 000 man-made impoundments (Matiza, 1994), ranging from very small single farm units to very large ones covering several square kilometers. The large impoundments include Kariba, Mutirikwi, Chivero, Manyame and Mazvikadei Dams. Except for the Kariba Dam, which was constructed for hydroelectric power generation, all the other dams were constructed for either domestic water supply, irrigation and livestock watering or a combination of those. Fishing, recreational and tourist activities have generally developed around these impoundments.
Dambos
Dambo is a Chichewa word that is used to describe a grassland in both Zambia and Malawi. It has now been adopted for use by the scientific community within the SADC region for purposes of uniformity. Locally these ecosystems would be referred to as `bani' (Shona) or `vlei' (adapted Africaans). Elsewhere such terms as `inland valley' (Sierra Leone), `mbuga' (Tanzania) and `fadama' (Nigeria) are used to refer to similar ecosystems. Included in this class are riverine dambos which are found along most of the country's major drainage systems. These are included on the basis that they are old dambos that have been dissected by water passing through over time and thereby forming streams.
Geology and geomorphology of dambos
In general, dambos are be valley bottoms or depressions that form natural drainage systems with or without a developed and distinct stream. They form the upper reaches of the drainage system below both main and sub-catchment areas of the country. Zimbabwe has 5 drainage zones and dambos are found in all of them, albeit with different shapes, sizes and distributions.
Seven important wetland sites in Zimbabwe were newly added to the RAMSAR Convention's List of Wetlands of International Importance. The seven are :-
- Victoria Falls National Park,
- Mana Pools National Park,
- Monavale Wetland,
- Lakes Chivero and Manyame,
- Driefontein Grasslands,
- Chinhoyi Caves, and
- Cleveland Dam.
Accession to the RAMSAR List is recognised by conservation organisations and governments worldwide as an important step in helping to protect these vulnerable wetland areas into the future.
RENEWABLE ENVIRONMENTAL AESTHETIC’S DIGEST
