Children discover the wonders of wetlands on World Wetlands Day

Around 130 children recently visited the Colbyn Wetland Nature Reserve in Pretoria to learn about the wonders of wetlands.

This was the 11th edition of this annual event held by the WESSA-affiliated Friends of Colbyn Valley and the Agricultural Research Council to celebrate World Wetlands Day.

The format and activities have evolved since the first offering in February 2014, but the aim of the day remains the same: to instil an understanding and appreciation of wetlands and all they do for us. The focus is on the next generation of wetland warriors, citizens, scientists, policy makers, and CEOs.

Several environmental professionals and students from, among others, the Southern African Young Geomorphologists (SAYG), the Agricultural Research Council, and the departments of Water and Sanitation, as well as Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment, shared their expertise through the activities on offer.

The programme, aimed at children aged eight to 13, is designed to create awareness about the value of wetlands, how they function in the landscape, and how to restore and protect them. Participants were taken on a guided walk into the Colbyn Wetland and built a simple model to show how healthy wetlands capture and store water.

In the miniSASS (mini stream assessment scoring system) session, they used a “citizen science” tool to classify the water quality of a stream based on the kinds of invertebrates (small creatures which lack a skeleton) they found living there.

In a new activity introduced this year, the children played a game that illustrated how invasive alien species displace indigenous ones and negatively impact biodiversity.

Wetlands are particularly important as habitats for birds, and those who rose early for the day’s popular pre-event, a bird ringing demonstration, were rewarded with close-up views of some of the Colbyn Wetland’s feathered fauna.

The bird ringers from BirdLife Northern Gauteng set up mist nets in the reserve before dawn, and visitors were able to see how the birds are caught, measured, ringed, and released.

World Wetlands Day marks the anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands (also known as the Ramsar Convention) on February 2, 1971. The day unites people across the globe in recognising the critical importance of wetland ecosystems and the essential services they provide: regulating floods, storing carbon, filtering water, supporting livelihoods, and hosting biodiversity.

The theme for World Wetlands Day 2026 is "Wetlands and traditional knowledge: Celebrating cultural heritage". This highlights the deep-rooted connections between wetlands and cultural practices based on traditional knowledge, sustaining wetland ecosystems and, in turn, preserving cultural identity.

The Colbyn Valley Wetland, situated in the heart of Pretoria, is a hotspot for urban biodiversity and offers residents a unique educational and recreational resource. In particular, the Colbyn Valley Wetland features areas of peat, which is a relatively rare occurrence in South African wetlands.

The wetland is conserved within the Colbyn Wetland Nature Reserve, proclaimed in June 2014 and managed by the City of Tshwane. The reserve is open daily from 6am to 6pm.

zelda.venter@inl.co.za