African Wildlife and Environment Issue 64

FAUNA , FLORA & WILDLIFE

DESTINATION RELIEF FOR LAKE ST LUCIA

A STORM IN A TEACUP

one contractor aims to expedite this work, improve efficiencies and optimises the money spent.” Derek Stretch, Professor of Hydraulics & Environmental Fluid Mechanics School of Engineering, University of KwaZulu-Natal, confirms that the work to remove the dredge spoil is significant: “It enables us to reverse some of the negative impacts of decades of dumping dredge spoil in that area and facilitates the more natural functioning of the Lake St Lucia Estuary.” Prof Stretch was one of the researchers providing scientific information that led to the change in the management strategy of the Lake St Lucia system. A large body of research work now underpins iSimangaliso’s restoration project funded by the World Bank’s Global Environment Facility. For decades it was believed that silt was the biggest risk to the system. Prof Stretch’s work challenged this – silt is an issue, but the critical

iSIMANGALISO PRESS RELEASE No. 2017.01.09

World Bank invests additional funds to restore Africa’s largest estuarine lake The iSimangaliso Wetland Park has signed two contracts of R23.41 million each with T&T Marine (Pty) Ltd and Scribante Africa Mining (Pty) Ltd. Both contracts will run until the end of June 2017 and are for the loading, hauling, tipping and disposal of sand from the dredge spoil island in the mouth area of the Lake St Lucia Estuary. This brings the total value of iSimangaliso’s Lake St Lucia restoration project to R61.82 million.

Eugene Moll

issue is fresh water and the uMfolozi River’s ability to act as the powerhouse that drives the natural process of the mouth. “While the first part of the restoration work is underway, we are very likely in a sediment a c c u m u l a t i o n phase,” says

The existing Phase A contractor, Cyclone E n g i n e e r i n g Projects (Pty) Ltd, has received a contract extension for R5 million, in addition to their current contract of R10 million. This will take their work to the end of January 2017 to completion, so there will be three contractors on site in January, and two from February to June 2017. Quantity surveyors have confirmed that to date, 96 842 cubic metres of dredge spoil have been removed and

The good news is that we can go on calling our thorntrees Acasias , but when writing a scientific paper the correct name needs to be used. And this is simply put, a galling inconvenience.

Stretch. “We are still in a drought and the Estuary mouth is still closed to the sea. This is however only the short-term view, because once we enter a period with more rainfall – floods and tidal flushing associated with an open mouth will result in a net loss of silt from the Estuary.” While the probe readings and Landsat images (see attached) confirm that water levels reached at the end of November have been maintained, January looks equally as promising. The following rainfalls were recorded within the 48 hours preceeding this press release:

Acacia tortilis

one Brit from Kew and one Australian from Perth), there was a slowly growing outburst of indignation and consternation. BUT that was mainly limited to the plant taxonomic scientific literature, with many papers on the matter on both sides of the argument. One outstanding paper with some 68 international authors called for the issue to be scrapped, but this was totally ignored. The matter of the loss of the name to all Africans, and people in many other parts of the world where Acacias also occur (such as the Sub-continent, the Arabian Peninsula and South and Central America), did not become general public knowledge until after the name was officially changed. And then it was too late. In the end all the objections and attempts at changing the decision came to nought and ‘officially’ we in Africa (and elsewhere in the world where Acacias occur) no longer have the right to use the genus name Acacia - that name now belongs to the some 1 000 species of the genus that occur mostly in Australia (and not to the

African Acacias , our common and widespread thorn trees of the bushveld and other areas too, are considered to be one of our continent’s most iconic trees. It is especially associated with internationally famous wildlife tourism areas such as the Serengeti Plains, along with our biggest mammal species, elephant and giraffe and the ‘King of the Beasts’, the lion. Acacia tree silhouettes are also used as logos, for instance by a major SA bank, a number of tourism agencies and lodges, and in many other ways such as street and suburb names, simply because the trees are considered ‘so archetypal African’! Thus it came as a major shock to the general public when in 2012 it was announced that we no longer had the right to use the name Acacia ! What happened to change all of this? And who and what made this change ‘official’? And maybe most importantly what does this all mean today? In the early years of this millennium, at the time when the name change was being proposed (essentially by

with Phase B (see diagram attached) a total of 1.2 million cubic metres are expected to have been removed by the end of June. Phase B contractors, T&T Marine (Pty) Ltd and Scribante Africa Mining (Pty) Ltd, have begun work on site. This removal of material has begun to reverse the negative impacts of dredge spoil deposition, enhancing the hydrological and ecological functioning of the 350km2 Lake St Lucia estuarine system, Africa’s largest. “It is early days, but nature’s healing has begun. On the back of improved flows from the uMfolozi River, Lake St Lucia’s water levels have improved from 10% water coverage in early 2016 and have remained at 90% since November 2016, while salinities remain fresh,” says Andrew Zaloumis, CEO of iSimangaliso. “This is South Africa’s largest and ecologically most important wetland rehabilitation project. The appointment of more than

• Kosi Bay – 60mm • uMkhuze – 14mm • False Bay – 40mm • Charters Creek – 20mm • St Lucia – 31mm • Mission Rocks – 26mm

With 90% of the Lake’s surface area now covered, the Lake is once again a single body of water no longer compartmentalised, and joined via the Narrows to the mouth. The status quo remains.

24 | African Wildlife & Environment | 64 (2017)

25 | African Wildlife & Environment | 64 (2017)