The Orange River wetland, South Africa’s first transborder Ramsar site, located on the Atlantic coast bordering Namibia is under ecological threat. Dry canals, and endangered birds, fish and mammals have placed the Orange River mouth under threat. From an environmental viewpoint, the Orange River is very important as it provides a belt of green vegetation through an otherwise hot and dry desert and also provides water to the Orange River mouth which is used by many rare and endangered birds as they migrate from one hemisphere to another annually. The Orange River Mouth Wetland is used by water birds either for breeding purposes or as a stopover on migration routes. Collapse of the salt marsh component brought on by diamond mining activities has been a major contributor to its demise.

SAFM