PRETORIA, Feb 23 (NNN-SANEWS) — South Africa’s Department of Environmental Affairs will go on a public awareness drive to raise the importance of protecting and conserving the country’s wetlands.
The drive, which will be carried out in Mpumalanga, is scheduled to get underway on Feb 25.
“The ultimate objective of the campaign is to heighten education and raise public awareness on the value of wetlands and their vital contribution to human wellness.
“At the centre of it all is attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), specifically Goal 13, which urges parties to take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts, through strengthening resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries,” said the department on Friday.
The four-day campaign in the province’s Ehlanzeni District Municipality forms part of South Africa’s activities in marking World Wetlands Day, which was celebrated on Feb 2.
This year’s celebrations are taking place under the theme ‘Wetlands and Climate Change’.
The department highlighted that climate change is seen as a major threat to the survival of species and integrity of ecosystems on a global scale. — NNN-SAnews
