2 February 2012 is World Wetlands Day, The Daily News reports, and to celebrate these important environmental landmarks, local schools will be learning about wetland wildlife and conservation. This year's wetlands theme is tourism, focusing on the benefits these areas have on people and wildlife, such as sustainable livelihoods and thriving ecosystems.

From January 30 until February 3, the uShaka Marine World education department will be working with Grade 7 pupils from disadvantaged schools which are situated near KZN's wetlands.

"We will have a range of activities for the pupils [to] highlight the biodiversity of our wetlands," said head of the department, Jone Porter. The Endangered Wildlife Trust defines wetlands as areas that are permanently saturated with water, allowing for plant and animal communities to adapt to these waterlogged conditions. In 2010, South Africa designated its 20th Wetland of International Importance - the Ntsikeni Nature Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal. It is one of the largest wetlands in the country and has undergone the least ecological change.

The children will go into the nearby wetlands and count the number of plant and animal species there, and will also collect litter from these areas. "We will talk to them about how long each item of litter takes to break down. Some items that are here now could still be here in 500 years," Porter told The Daily News. She and her team will also teach the pupils to make their own miniature wetland, using two litre plastic bottles filled with stones, sand, and grass. "They will pour dirty water into these bottles to see how a wetland works as a filter. [...] Wetlands are [also] catchments of the sea, so if there is litter in a wetland, that pollution will end up in the ocean," Porter said.