Wetland Ecosystem Types

South Africa’s globally recognised biodiversity richness also extends to inland wetlands. A wide range of climatic, geological and topographic settings have resulted in an exceptional diversity of wetland ecosystem types, from permanently saturated peatlands that accumulated in place over thousands of years to ephemeral salt pans harbouring newly described invertebrate species. In global terms, South Africa’s wetlands are small, with nearly 50% that are less than 1.5 hectares in size, but they are of outsized importance in a semi-arid context and they frequently function as an inter-connected network across a catchment. Wetlands provide vitally important benefits to people, such as improving water quality and controlling floods. They are water sources, habitats, and refuges for animals and people in times of drought.

We have an interim typology in place and are currently at work on an updated national system to understand and manage our wetlands as effectively as possible. The proposed updated typology update will contribute significantly towards ensuring their long-term health and the benefits they provide to all South Africans.

References

See Quarto documentation for different ways to cite references. For reference citations to work, there needs to be a .bib file stored in the same folder as the .qmd file. Give the .bib file a unique name (i.e. change it from the default references.bib). Make sure to edit the yaml header to reference the correct .bib file. See this bibtex reference for the formats for different types of references

Citing a journal article¹.

Citing a book².

Citing a book chapter³.

Citing a technical report⁴.

Code blocks for graphs, maps and tables

Use these code blocks to ensure that your graphs maps and tables are consistently numbered and labeled. Using these code blocks also lets you cross-reference tables and figures in the text.

Graphs and maps

The #| label: line in the code below makes it possible to reference the graph in the text. It must always start with fig- for Quarto to recognise it as a figure, and to apply correct styling and numbering to the figure caption. Each figure in your document must have a unique fig- name. To reference the figure in the text, use Insert > Cross Reference, and look for the figure lable in the list.

Add an appropriate descriptive caption next to fig-cap.

Tables

Follow the same system for creating tables. Do not use the visual editor to insert tables, as this will create a table in Quarto’s default style, and you will have to type in the data manually, making the table less reproducible if your data changes. Note that here you must use the tbl- prefix to ensure that quarto recognises it as a table.

Table 1. Add table caption here.

Combine figures and related data

It is possible do display both the data that a figure is based on and the figure using tabset-panels. This enables users to interrogate the data behind the statistics directly. Use this code to set up a tabset:

Figure

Data

Table 2. Ecosystem threat status of terrestrial ecosystem types.

Download the data here.

Information boxes

NoteBox 1. xxxxxxxx

Prepared by Phumla Mayekiso, Jackie Jay and Nancy Job.

Wetlands of International Importance, designated in accordance with the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, are places of globally significant biodiversity and embody South Africa’s commitment to conserve and ensure the wise use of its wetland ecosystems for the benefit of all humanity.

[Landscape photo]

The total area under the Ramsar Convention in South Africa is approximately 300 000 ha or 0.5% of total wetlands in South Africa. Although Ramsar sites range widely from one large wetland to sites with multiple wetlands, occasionally with a broad mix of estuary, river, inland wetland and marine aquatic ecosystems all within one designated site, only inland wetlands are calculated per site for the purposes of this report.

Figure 4.1. Ramsar sites of South Africa

Ramsar wetland sites are provided a level of protection in that they require management plans and are afforded greater protection through higher water allocations through the National Water Act (Chapter 3). The majority (92%) of Ramsar inland wetlands fall within Protected Areas. They amount to 14 133 ha (x%) of the total of inland wetland wetlands within protected area in South Africa and x% of the extent of all inland wetlands. Approximately 936.6 ha (7.4%) of Ramsar inland wetlands do not overlap with the formal protected area network.

NoteBox 4. Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Wetlands)

Prepared by Phumla Mayekiso, Jackie Jay and Nancy Job.

Wetlands of International Importance, designated in accordance with the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, are places of globally significant biodiversity and embody South Africa’s commitment to conserve and ensure the wise use of its wetland ecosystems for the benefit of all humanity.

[Landscape photo]

The total area under the Ramsar Convention in South Africa is approximately 300 000 ha or 0.5% of total wetlands in South Africa. Although Ramsar sites range widely from one large wetland to sites with multiple wetlands, occasionally with a broad mix of estuary, river, inland wetland and marine aquatic ecosystems all within one designated site, only inland wetlands are calculated per site for the purposes of this report.

Figure 4.1. Ramsar sites of South Africa

Ramsar wetland sites are provided a level of protection in that they require management plans and are afforded greater protection through higher water allocations through the National Water Act (Chapter 3). The majority (92%) of Ramsar inland wetlands fall within Protected Areas. They amount to 14 133 ha (x%) of the total of inland wetland wetlands within protected area in South Africa and x% of the extent of all inland wetlands. Approximately 936.6 ha (7.4%) of Ramsar inland wetlands do not overlap with the formal protected area network.

Approach to develop this input layer

Ecosystem Protection Level [Harris et al. (in review)] measures

Acknowledgements

Reviewers of this web page xx

Technical documentation

Code repository: https://github.com/askowno/EPL_wetl

Key Publications:

Harris, L.R., Skowno, A.L., Holness, S.D., Sink, K.J., van Niekerk, L., van Deventer, H., Smith-Adao, L., Job, N., Khatieb, S., Monyeki, M. Indicators for tracking progress in effective, representative ecosystem protection. Conservation Biology, in review. Technical details regarding development of new indicators of effective, representative ecosystem protection and their application in South Africa.

Technical reports:

Recommended citation

Job, N.M., Skowno, A.L xx. 2025. Ecosystem protection level: Freshwater (inland aquatic) realm synthesis. National Biodiversity Assessment 2025. South African National Biodiversity Institute. http://nba.sanbi.org.za/.

References

1. Harris, L.R. et al. 2019. Advancing land-sea integration for ecologically meaningful coastal conservation and management. Biological Conservation 237: 81–89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2019.06.020

2. Mittermeier, R.A. et al. 1997. Megadiversity: Earth’s biologically wealthiest nations. CEMEX/Agrupacion Sierra Madre, Mexico City.

3. Wilson, J.R. et al. 2018. Indicators. In Van Wilgen, B.W. & J.R. Wilson (eds), The status of biological invasions and their management in south africa in 2017.: 13–26. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Kirstenboch; DST-NRF Centre of Excellence for Invasion Biology, Stellenbosch.

4. Von Maltitz, G. et al. 2020. National terrestrial carbon sinks assessment: Technical report. Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, Pretoria.