The Middelpunt Nature Reserve, in Mpumalanga, has been designated as a wetland of international importance by the international Convention on Wetlands organisation Ramsar. The declaration of South Africa's twenty-ninth such wetland has been welcomed by Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Barbara Creecy.
The Middelpunt Nature Reserve is situated along the headwaters of the Lakenvleispruit in the Olifants river basin, about 14 km from the town of Dullstroom.
The latest Ramsar site is home to one of the rarest and most threatened waterbirds in Africa, the White-winged Flufftail. Until recently, Ethiopia was thought to be the only country where White-winged Flufftail breed. However, the first breeding record at Middelpunt Nature Reserve established that a breeding population exists outside of Ethiopia.
South Africa won an award for the conservation of the White-winged Flufftail in recognition of its conservation efforts for this endangered rare bird species, Creecy says.
The site also contributes significantly to conserving the genetic and ecological diversity of the Steenkampsberg Mountain Grasslands and provides habitat for a number of other endangered and endemic species, including the Blue Crane, Secretary Bird, African Grass Owl and Denham's Bustard.
Additionally, the site is one of only two in South Africa where the rare peat borrowing crab is found. The Middelpunt Wetland contains a peat layer between 1.5 m and 2.6 m deep, accumulating at a rate of 0.36 mm a year. This provides an important ecosystem service to the global community by sequestering carbon from the atmosphere.
Further, the site is situated in one of South Africa’s highest rainfall regions known as the Mpumalanga Drakensberg Strategic Water Source Area, and this region consists primarily of a permanent freshwater valley bottom wetland, supported by lateral seeps and artesian springs.
“This [designation] is a further indication of how important it is to conserve and protect our country’s wetlands. Wetlands' unique environmental features not only provide clean water through their natural filtration systems, but also provide habitats to a variety of species, including migratory birds,” says Creecy.
The declaration of South Africa’s twenty-ninth wetland of international importance comes less than a year since the declaration of the Berg Estuary, in the Western Cape, as South Africa’s twenty-eighth Ramsar site under the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance.