Eden District Municipality WETLAND REPORT | 2017

EDEN DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY WETLAND REPORT | 2017 LOCAL ACTION FOR BIODIVERSITY (LAB): WETLANDS SOUTH AFRICA Biodiversity for Life South African National Biodiversity Institute Full Program Title: Local Action for Biodiversity: Wetland Management in a Changing Climate Sponsoring USAID Office: USAID/Southern Africa Cooperative Agreement Number: AID-674-A-14-00014 Contractor: Local Governments for Sustainability – Africa Secretariat Date of Publication: March 2017 Author: K. Robinson DISCLAIMER: The author’s views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government. FOREWORD Wetlands are one of the most valuable and diverse rapid decline and countless animals and plants have ecosystems on this planet and are essential for been brought to the verge of extinction. Wetlands are human existence. Wetlands clean the water we drink also increasingly unable to perform the ecosystem as well as provide nutritious food in the form of plants services so vital for human life. and fish. Wetlands also provide organic materials which can be used for medicinal purposes. They help In the 21st century we need wetlands more than protect us from flooding and storm surges and also ever before. The conservation and the management have the ability to store water which is then released of wetlands in a holistic, collaborative and effective in times of drought. Wetlands also provide key habitat manner is therefore essential to sustain human for a significant array of critically endangered flora livelihoods and local economies, protect our valuable and fauna. biodiversity and buffer the impacts of climate change. Wetlands also play a key role in the mitigation of climate change, which is predicted to have a major MR V M GIBBS-HALLS impact on human livelihoods. They can store large Environmental Specialist amounts of carbon and thus can help with the Eden District Municipality regulation of greenhouse gases thereby assisting in the control of accelerating climate change. These ecosystems also have the ability to protect against the effects of climate change by reducing flooding risk, stabilising shorelines and controlling erosion. Despite the essential role wetlands play in maintaining the delicate balance of life on Earth, they are being lost and degraded at an unprecedented rate, faster than any other ecosystem in the world. Since the 1900s, it is estimated that 64% of the world’s wetlands have been destroyed. Within South Africa, 50% of the country’s wetlands have been lost and 48% of the remaining wetlands are critically endangered. The astounding loss of the wetland systems worldwide is largely as a result of wetland areas being ‘reclaimed’ for expanding urban development or agricultural expansion as well as encroachment of invasive alien vegetation. As a result, species which once populated these areas in vast numbers are seeing a EDEN DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY: WETLAND REPORT I 2017 1 ICLEI – LOCAL GOVERNMENTS FOR SUSTAINABILITY [email protected] +27 21 202 0381 www.africa.iclei.org www.twitter.com/ICLEIAfrica ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability is the In order to strengthen the role cities and local leading global network of over 1,500 cities, towns and governments play in the pursuit of greater regions committed to building a sustainable future. sustainability through the collaborative design and By helping the ICLEI Network to become sustainable, implementation of integrated urban development low-carbon, ecomobile, resilient, biodiverse, resource- and effective biodiversity management, the ICLEI efficient, healthy and happy, with a green economy Cities Biodiversity Center (ICLEI CBC) was created in and smart infrastructure, we impact over 25% of the 2009. The ICLEI CBC is located in Cape Town, South global urban population. Africa, embedded in the Africa Regional Office of ICLEI. We offer cities a broad portfolio of supportive ICLEI Africa’s work is conducted by a dynamic and services through our dedicated team of passionate, passionate team of professionals that seek to work skilled and dynamic biodiversity and urban with cities to ensure a more sustainable future, with a development experts. specific focus on urban biodiversity matters. 2 2017 I LAB WETLANDS REPORT SA: OVERBERG DISTICT MUNICIPALITY ICLEI CITIES BIODIVERSITY CENTER LOCAL ACTION FOR BIODIVERSITY PROGRAMME [email protected] +27 21 202 0381 www.africa.iclei.org www.twitter.com/ICLEIAfrica The ICLEI Cities Biodiversity Center aims to create It buffers further biodiversity loss, improves the urban BiodiverCities, which promote urban biodiversity for standard of living, and provides local opportunities the many benefits they offer, including human well- for global education and awareness. being, poverty alleviation, habitat conservation, air and water quality, climate change adaptation and ICLEI’s Local Action for Biodiversity (LAB) programme mitigation, food provision, fortified infrastructure is a unique global biodiversity programme run by resilience, and happiness of citizens. The ICLEI Cities Biodiversity Center. The LAB Program is aimed at improving and enhancing ecosystem BiodiverCities are aware that ecosystem services management at the local level, and is recognized contribute towards many essential municipal globally as the leading results-driven local government services, as well as towards the local economy, biodiversity initiative. Currently, LAB is working on sustainability and social well-being of their cities. wetland restoration in South Africa under the Local Biodiversity in cities provides a critical contribution Action for Biodiversity: Wetlands South Africa (LAB towards achieving the global biodiversity targets. Wetlands SA) project. EDEN DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY: WETLAND REPORT I 2017 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword ��1 ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability ��2 ICLEI Cities Biodiversity Center ��3 LOCAL Action for Biodiversity Programme ��3 Table of Contents ��4 List of Acronyms and Abbreviations ��6 List of Figures and Tables ��7 Executive Summary ��8 Introduction ��9 1 i WhatisaWetland? ��10 2 i WhatisBiOdiVeRsitY? ��12 3 i WetlandsandBiOdiVeRsitYintheedendistRictMunicipalitY ��13 3�1 Mapping wetlands in Eden District Municipality ��14 3�2 Key Wetlands in the Eden District Municipality ��15 3.2.1 Wilderness Lakes System (RAMSAR site) ��15 3.2.2 Bitou Valley Wetland ��17 3.2.3 Knysna Estuary ��18 3�3 Key Flora and Fauna of the Eden District Municipality Wetlands ��19 3.3.1 Flora ��19 3.3.2 Fauna ��20 3�4 Shifting of Wetland Systems over Time ��21 3�5 Strategic Water Source Areas and Catchment Management

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