Ramsar Convention on Wetlands NEWS: Experts issue recommendations to save Zimbabwe’s wetlands

Facts you should know:

   • Harare’s major water source originates from the vleis and open green spaces within and surrounding the city. Many are now being
     sacrificed to development, being polluted by waste and being degraded by informal urban agriculture.

   • A vlei is an important type of wetland typical of the Mashonaland Plateau. It is low-lying, marshy wet grassland, covered with water
     during the rainy season, and even though it may seem to be dry during the winter season and droughts, it is actually storing water
     under the ground which it releases slowly into the streams and rivers – a natural regulator. A vlei ecosystem can be kilometres wide
     in extent with the drier fringes moving down to the wetter mid and central areas. All areas have an essential role to play in the provision
     of water.

   • Greater Harare and its environs sit in the headwaters of the Manyame and Gwebi catchment basin. Approximately 6.5 million people
     rely on this invisible source for their water supply. There is no higher place a from where Harare can source its water. Many people
     are unaware that Lakes Chivero and Manyame are downstream of Harare and that this lake water needs to be pumped back up to Harare!

    • Harare’s vleis and open grasslands provide numerous services, cost-free, for its residents:
        » Recharging of rivers, headwaters and aquifers of the Mashonaland watershed (Headwaters and aquifers contain 97% of the
           Earth’s unfrozen fresh water)
        » Highly effective filtration of this recharged groundwater - a task which would otherwise fall to the city’s over-extended and
           very expensive treatment works.
        » Are a more efficient carbon sink than forests (carbon dioxide accounts for at least 60% of the effects of global warming).
        » Control of groundwater flow, which prevents river siltation and land erosion, as well as depositing nutrients to maintain wetland
           biodiversity.
        » Flood attenuation.

     • BirdLife Zimbabwe’s role in the conservation the wetlands of Harare:
        » Education: BLZ ‘s Bird Awareness Programme has been introduced into schools and colleges located near wetlands..
        » Community Engagement: together with local communities, Environmental Management Agency, City of Harare and other
           stakeholders, BLZ has been involved in the conservation of Monavale Vlei and currently Marlborough Vlei.
        » Bird Watching: BLZ members visit Harare’s wetlands throughout the wet season to monitor the important breeding migrant
           species such as Striped Crake and Streaky-breasted Flufftail. A monthly survey is conducted on Monavale Vlei with COSMO
           members.
        » World Wetland Day 2015 “Wetlands for our Future: Enticing Youth to Experience Wetlands for Themselves” for schools
           was celebrated on Monavale Vlei, Harare on Friday 6th February.

BirdLife Zimbabwe would like to thank Cosmo for their contribution to this page.

For infomation on the flora of Monavale Vlei, click on link below:
http://zimbabweflora.co.zw/speciesdata/location-display.php?location_id=77