Belfast Wetland Rehabilitation.
Accepted best practice for wetlands in South Africa is a ‘no-net-loss’ approach, meaning development should result in no further loss to wetland integrity or functionality. GroundTruth were appointed to assess the wetland loss or impacts potential associated with the Exxaro Coal Belfast Implementation Project.
The Belfast Implementation Project is located approximately 8km to the south of Belfast town in Mpumalanga province, South Africa. At the time that GroundTruth were appointed, the proposed mining activities were set to result in the destruction and modification of approximately 83 ha of wetland habitat. To mitigate the impact, Exxaro purchased additional adjacent property, facilitating a systems-based approach to wetland rehabilitation associated with the neighbouring Klein Komati River.
GroundTruth undertook the wetland rehabilitation planning for the proposed developments in accordance with the general process adopted by the national Working for Wetlands programme and the approach outlined in the WET-RehabPlan. GroundTruth’s design process was carried out in two main phases: 1) an infield planning phase, and 2) a desktop processing and design phase.
During the infield planning phase, undertaken by a multi-disciplinary team consisting of wetland ecologists and environmental engineers, problems and objectives within the wetlands were identified, with locations for potential interventions investigated for relevant suitability characteristics.
The desktop processing and design phase involved hydrological and hydraulic to design various interventions. Ultimately, GroundTruth proposed various onsite mitigation activities, which included the introduction of over 100 structural interventions. These included earthworks, such as eco-logs and the deactivation of ridge and furrow agriculture, stabilisation of erosional features within the system, and clearing of alien invasive vegetation.
The video summarising this project can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NVKgDZN33E