Ramsar and world heritage site status
Lake St Lucia (37 000ha) and the Eastern Shores (30 000ha) together comprise the largest estuarine system on the African continent. Lake St Lucia was declared a Natural World Heritage Site by UNESCO protocol – South Africa’s first- on December 1, 1999. It is a Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention. This means that its value as a conservation area extends beyond the borders of the country. It is a habitat for birds such as the small waders which breed in northern Eurasia, and migrate to the southern hemisphere to avoid the northern winter. It is also of regional importance for duck and other water bird populations which are able to survive at St Lucia when there are severe droughts elsewhere in southern Africa. Once the drought is over, these birds migrate northwards to restock the wetlands in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
South Africa has an obligation to look after its Ramsar site and to ensure that it is adequately conserved. The Convention secretariat maintains a list of threatened Ramsar wetlands, and assists member countries by sending monitoring teams to advise on how to conserve these threatened wetlands. A monitoring team sent to St Lucia a few years ago advised the South African Government that mining of the Eastern Shores would be detrimental to the St Lucia wetland.
The Greater St Lucia Wetland Park has been inscribed upon the World Heritage List of the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. Inscription on this List confirms the exceptional universal value of a cultural or natural site which deserves protection for the benefit of all humanity.
The ongoing fluvial, marine and saeolian processes in the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park World Heritage Site have produced a variety of landforms including coral reefs, long sandy beaches, coastal dunes, lake systems, swamps, and extensive reed and papyrus wetlands. The interplay of the park’s environmental diversity with major floods and coastal storms and a transitional geographic location between sub-tropical and tropical Africa has resulted in exceptional species diversity and on-going speciation. The mosaic of landforms and habitat types creates superlative scenic vistas. The site contains critical habitat for a range of species from Africa’s marine, wetland and savannah environments.
South Africa has an obligation to look after its Ramsar site and to ensure that it is adequately conserved. The Convention secretariat maintains a list of threatened Ramsar wetlands, and assists member countries by sending monitoring teams to advise on how to conserve these threatened wetlands. A monitoring team sent to St Lucia a few years ago advised the South African Government that mining of the Eastern Shores would be detrimental to the St Lucia wetland.
The Greater St Lucia Wetland Park has been inscribed upon the World Heritage List of the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. Inscription on this List confirms the exceptional universal value of a cultural or natural site which deserves protection for the benefit of all humanity.
The ongoing fluvial, marine and saeolian processes in the Greater St Lucia Wetland Park World Heritage Site have produced a variety of landforms including coral reefs, long sandy beaches, coastal dunes, lake systems, swamps, and extensive reed and papyrus wetlands. The interplay of the park’s environmental diversity with major floods and coastal storms and a transitional geographic location between sub-tropical and tropical Africa has resulted in exceptional species diversity and on-going speciation. The mosaic of landforms and habitat types creates superlative scenic vistas. The site contains critical habitat for a range of species from Africa’s marine, wetland and savannah environments.
The greater St Lucia system can be described in 5 recognizable ecosystems namely”
- The marine system – East of the park and 280 kilometers of Indian ocean coastline and adjacent marine eco system. The endangered leatherback turtles swim thousand of sea miles, to return to the place of their birth, to lay eggs in the metal enriched beech sands.
- Eastern shores (Dune & Forests) – inland and east of lake St Lucia consisting of grassy plains, wetlands and ancient coastal dune forests that grows on the world famous sand dunes, dunes that extents the full length of the reserve. The dunes form a natural barrier between the lake, rivers and the Indian ocean and are covered by climax forest.
- Lake St Lucia – Largest estuary system in the world. this extensive 85 km lake is an average dept of 1 meter and home to more than a thousand hippos, several thousand crocodiles, 526 birds, and 114 species fish. Migrating birds – some flying more than 18 000 miles and fish use this lake as a nursery
- Mkuze swamps – Northern end of lake St Lucia and Expansive papyrus wetland
- Western shores – savanna and thornveld – the driest area
