On Friday afternoon we were about to hit ‘send’ to release this issue, when a thick smoke invaded our office like a ghost. We ran outside to see the wetland beyond our wall go up in flames – fanned by a strong wind blowing in our direction.

The programme was started with the aim to raise awareness of the strategic importance of wetlands to facilitate proper management and restoration of wetlands and focuses mainly on wetlands outside nature reserves.

This year the theme of World Wetlands Day will be ‘Wetlands & Tourism,’ celebrated on Thursday 2 February 2012. This will celebrate the 41st anniversary of the Ramsar Convention, an intergovernmental treaty signed on 2 February 1971 in Iran for the protection of wetlands worldwide. 160 countries have since signed the treaty.

An atlas that contains mapped rivers, wetland and estuary priority areas in South Africa was launched by the Deputy Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, Ms Rejoice Mabudafhasi, earlier this week.

Africa’s first carbon-neutral bank, continued to demonstrate its commitment to water sustainability as a key participant and host of the Water Roundtable side event at the COP 17.