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Mapping the locality of wetlands is essential so that they may be classified into the different wetland ecosystem types across the country, which in turn can be used along with other data to identify wetlands of conservation significance.

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The flow diagram below shows the data that were used to derive the NFEPA wetland delineations. SANBI’s Wetland Map 1 was used as the base GIS layer. This layer was derived from the National Land Cover 2000, in which wetland polygons are described as “Wetland” or “Waterbody”. The waterbody category does not distinguish between natural or artificial waterbodies. To overcome this problem, SANBI’s National Wetlands Map 1 was combined with the 1:50 000 inland water features from Chief Directorate Surveys and Mapping (DLA-CDSM 2006), to derive National Wetland Map 2 that was divided into 3 GIS layers: wetland, natural waterbody and artificial waterbody. To derive National Wetland Map 3, the wetland and natural waterbody GIS layers were combined to produce a natural waterbody GIS layer. This was then combined with the artificial waterbody GIS layer to produce the National Wetland Map 3, in which wetland polygons have been described as either “natural” or “artificial” waterbodies. Finally, existing sub-national wetland delineations from other biodiversity planning initiatives were added to the National Wetland Map 3 to derive the final NFEPA wetland map. Sub-national data included wetland delineations for:

• Wetlands for the entire KwaZulu-Natal Province (available from Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife);

• C.A.P.E. fine-scale biodiversity planning wetlands of Saldanha/Sandveld, Riversdale plain and Upper Breede River Valley (available from www.bgis.sanbi.org);

• Overberg, Niewoudtville and Kamieskroon wetlands (available from www.bgis.sanbi.org);

• and selected wetlands of conservation importance in Mpumalanga Province (available from Mpumalanga Parks and Tourism Agency).

The delineations were based largely on remotely-sensed imagery and therefore did not include historic wetlands lost through drainage, ploughing and concreting. Irreversible loss of wetlands is expected to be high in some areas, such as urban centres.

Available documentation:

DLA-CDSM, 2005-2007. Department of Land Affairs – Chief Directorate: Surveys and Mapping. 1:50 000 inland waterbodies and rivers.

Nel, J.L., Murray, K.M., Maherry, A.M., Petersen, C.P., Roux, D.J., Driver, A., Hill, L., Van Deventer, H., Funke, N., Swartz, E.R., Smith-Adao, L.B., Mbona, N., Downsborough, L. and Nienaber, S (2011). Technical Report for the National Freshwater Ecosystem Priority Areas project. WRC Report No. K5/1801.

SANS 1878

FGDC-STD-001-1998