by Piet-Louis Grundling
The IMCG hosted its bi-annual Congress “Southern African Mires and Peatlands” from 10–25 September 2004. The series of events included an excursion through South Africa and Lesotho, a scientific symposium with the theme “Management challenges for Wetlands, Mires and Peatlands in the 21st Century” (24 – 25 September 2004 in Paarl, close to Cape Town) and the IMCG General Assembly (26th September 2004 in Paarl).
The Congress was a huge success and I believe it was thoroughly enjoyed by all! Thirtyfive international delegates attended the fieldtrip with 5–10 South Africans joining in daily. The field trip exposed the international delegates to peatlands and mires in the southern African Landscape. I believed that these new environments and mire types have posed certain ecological and academic challenges to our international colleagues. On the other hand we in southern Africa, and especially I myself, have learned a lot from all of you. Certain concepts of peat accumulation were thoroughly discussed on some of the mires we visited. It has opened our eyes and minds to new ideas and concepts. Some of the more important ones that come to mind are to evaluate mires and peatlands in the context of the landscape and the catchment in which they occur, especially when it comes to management decisions such as restoration and rehabilitation measures.
A more controversial discussion was what is peat and what is gyttja – seems I ended up with some mud on my face! The pristine Watervalvlei mire at Bedford was visited – alas we are losing this beautiful site as ESKOM is in a process of taking over the land from the farmers to flood it for energy purposes.
Other highlights of the tour were the visit to the beautiful Maloti Mountains and mires in Lesotho and the Vankersvelvlei mire in South Africa. At Vankersvel we have seen two species of Sphagnum and augured down to the deepest peat core ever in South Africa – 11.5 m!!
Witth 55 people, the Symposium was well attended and the presentations were of good quality and well received. Well done to our presenters! I am sure Hans will give more feedback on a lively and fruitful General Assembly!
In closing: Tours likes these mean a lot to the countries that host them. We have learned a lot. I trust we will have more of these wonderful knowledge transfer tours between North and South, more developed and less developed regions and countries!!! Long live the IMCG!
The outcomes of the IMCG Southern Africa Congress were directly made available to all participants through a CD, that covered the excursion guide, several crucial background reports, a list of participants and their addresses, the complete powerpoints of presentations of the scientific symposium, an impressive series of digital pictures made available by Olivier Olgiatti, and last but not least the first performances of the song “IMCG in Africa” recorded for a live audience…
For information how to obtain the cd, contact the IMCG secretariat.