Bax & Company’s Lisa Wiatschka contributes to Europe’s biggest conference on Peatlands protection
Damaged peatlands are responsible for more human-caused CO2 emissions than aviation and shipping combined. Highlighting the importance of Europe-wide collaboration for wetlands restoration and regeneration, Bax & Company’s Lisa Wiatschka recently presented the European Peatlands Initiative to 500 environmentalists, scientists and policymakers at Europe’s largest conference on wetlands, Power to the Peatlands.
Our collaborators on this initiative: Natuurpunt, the University of Antwerp, and partners of Interreg Care-Peat and Admire, Peatlands Europe, and the European Peatlands Initiative,
Power to the Peatlands is Europe’s biggest gathering of wetlands practitioners, uniting more than 500 environmentalists, scientists, and policymakers in Antwerp this September to discuss peatland restoration.
The conference, organized by a consortium of esteemed organizations including Natuurpunt, the University of Antwerp, and partners of Interreg Care-Peat and Admire, focussed the scientific, management, and policy aspects of peatland restoration and conservation.
Alongside keynote speeches and expert workshops, Lisa Wiatschka, representing Bax & Company, Peatlands Europe, and the European Peatlands Initiative, took the stage to present the EPI; a collaborative effort supported by governments, UNEP’s Global Peatlands Initiative and the European Climate Initiative (EUKI), that seeks to accelerate action, exchange knowledge, and mobilise resources for the restoration, conservation, and sustainable management of Europe’s invaluable peatlands.
Lisa’s presentation highlighted the urgency of safeguarding peatlands, which, despite covering only 3-4% of the world’s landmass, store up to a third of the world’s soil carbon. The initiative underscores the importance of peatlands as powerful allies in the fight against climate change and biodiversity loss.
The “Power to the Peatlands” conference concluded with a forward-looking interactive session, where attendees co-created a declaration emphasizing the multifaceted ecosystem services that healthy peatlands provide.
This declaration aims to draw the attention of decision-makers to the urgency of restoring drained peatlands and offers recommendations on how EU-level and national policies can harness the power of peatlands for climate action, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable livelihoods.
For those inspired by the cause and want to learn more, join the upcoming CEEweb Webinar on November 15, 2023, titled “National Peatland Strategies and Peatland Restoration Opportunities”, in which Lisa Wiatschka will give further insights to the EPI story.
Learn more about preservation and restoration for Europe’s peatlands
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