Launch of the Peatland Atlas 2023

This event is fully-booked. For any question, please contact Anna Mes Trzcińska.

You can also watch the live streaming.

Peatlands across the world are an essential ally when it comes to climate protection, acting as a carbon sink and stabilizing our global climate. They are powerful nature-based solutions providing multiple ecosystem services: as biodiversity hotspots, for water regulation, as flood and drought prevention and as lifelines for local communities. However, peatlands around the world are being lost at an alarming rate – through clearing, deforestation, slash-and-burn agriculture, oil extraction, mining, and drainage. A transformative shift is therefore necessary. Decision-makers urgently need to make decisive and concrete commitments.

The first Peatland Atlas 2023 highlights background information from different regions and provides options on how decision-makers and society can act now. The publication by the Michael Succow Stiftung, partner of the Greifswald Mire Centre, BUND - Friends of the Earth Germany and the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung in cooperation with the Global Peatland Initiative is going to contribute to a broad social debate on challenges and potentials of peatland conservation, restoration, and sustainable use in Europe and globally.

What are the drivers of worldwide peatland losses? What are drained peatlands used for? What are the local and global impacts of peatland destruction? What policy measures are necessary to protect peatlands? These are the questions we will discuss with our guests from science, politics, and civil society.

Draft programme

12:00 Light lunch

12:30 Welcoming words by René Böll, painter and graphic artist, and co-founder of the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung

12:40 Presentation of the Peatland Atlas 2023 by Jan Peters, Managing Director, Michael Succow Stiftung, Greifswald (Germany) and Inka Dewitz, Senior Programme Officer, International Agricultural Policy Division, Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, Berlin (Germany)

12:55 Perspectives on Peatlands worldwide - Input about Patagonia by Nicole Puschel, Wildlife Conservation Society, Chile 

13:00 Panel discussion with:

• Dianna Kopansky, Global Peatlands Coordinator, United Nations Environment Programme
• Jutta Paulus MEP, Greens/EFA
• Hans Joosten, Secretary-General, Greifswald Mire Centre
• Chris Baker, Director - Europe, Wetlands International Europe

Moderation: Kira Taylor, Freelance energy and environment journalist