31 January 2007

The City of Cape Town has embarked on several programmes to create awareness about the value of wetlands as part of its World Wetlands Day celebrations.

Learners and communities will be educated about nature conservation and on sustaining invaluable natural assets.

The week-long programme is currently being hosted at the city's wetland and estuary nature reserves. The campaign started on Monday 29 January and will end on Friday during the World Wetlands Day celebrations.

"This year's campaign aims to draw attention to the vital role that healthy wetlands and river systems play in maintaining healthy populations of marines, freshwater fish and other aquatic food species," sthe City said in a statement.

More than a billion people are said to be dependent on fish as their main source of protein, while the demand for seafood products has doubled over the past 40 years.

"It is therefore increasingly important to ensure the correct and sustainable management of our marine, coastal and inland habitats support aquatic food species," the statement said.

World Wetlands Day is celebrated on 2 February every year by countries across the world.

It 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.

This year, celebrations will focus on wetland and fisheries in recognition of the needs of the one billion people who rely on fish as their primary source of animal protein.

It will also focus on the important role that inland and coastal wetlands play in supporting fish and fisheries at all levels, from large-scale commercial fisheries to subsistence fishers and from wild capture fisheries to farmed fish.

Source: BuaNews