This year, University of Pretoria postgraduate students, staff and members of the Southern African Young Geomorphologists (SAYG) and Youth Engaged in Wetlands (YEW) celebrated World Wetlands Day at Colbyn Valley Nature Reserve, Pretoria, by volunteering as facilitators on 3 February 2024.

Groups of primary school learners were guided and facilitated through various wetland activities such as a wetland walk, a quiz, wetland model building and miniSASS activities. The children were able to learn about wetland formation, biodiversity, river health, bird species and wetland vegetation. They spent some time learning about different soil types in the wetland,  as well as the multiple important roles that wetlands play (including flood regulation and carbon sequestration).  In the wetland model construction, the facilitators helped children construct a model showing how the wetland changes water flows – an activity that was greatly enjoyed by everyone.

The facilitators learned how to educate children on their level and to also network with each other and with stakeholders present such as the Friends of Colbyn Valley, BirdLife SA and the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) amongst others.

We look forward to next year’s World Wetlands Day events! For more on the recent World Wetlands Day, read our previous post.

Figure 1: (A) UP PhD student and YEW Africa representative, Thandeka Ndlela, receiving her facilitator certificate. (B) UP MSc student, Sashin Pillay, demonstrating wetland soil sampling. (C) Children on a wetland walk.

Figure 2: Participants at World Wetland Day held at the Colbyn Nature Reserve.