Cape Town is South Africa' first Ramsar Wetland City!

Cape Town is South Africa’s first city, and one of only 43 around the world, to be accredited as a Ramsar Wetland City. The announcement was made at the 14th Conference of Parties to the UN Convention on Wetlands, known as the Ramsar Convention, being held in Geneva, Switzerland from 05 to 13 November 2022
The Wetland City Accreditation program provides international recognition for cities that uphold a solid and favourable relationship with wetlands through creating public awareness on wetland benefits, incorporating wetland protection into municipal planning and decision-making, and promoting wetland benefits for local people.

"We are truly honoured to be bestowed with this new status, and are committed to keep on carrying out the responsibilities this requires in protecting our precious wetlands. The preservation of our natural assets is a key priority for the City, not only because it is the right thing to do, but also because our natural environment protects us from natural disasters and ensure our future resilience to climate change", said Lorraine Gerrans, the City of Cape Town's Director: Environmental Management.

Cape Town is home to over 11 000 hectares of wetlands which provide essential services such as disaster risk reduction and contribute to climate change adaptation and mitigation. The city is recognised as a global hotspot of biodiversity and thus has a corresponding number of rare and threatened wetlands supporting many endemic fauna and flora species. These wetlands include the Rietvlei and Milnerton Lagoon (part of the Table Bay Nature Reserve), the Zandvlei Estuary, Edith Stephens Wetlands, False Bay Nature Reserve (a wetland of international importance), the Noordhoek wetlands and many others.