Peatland Pavilion at UNFCCC COP26

Some of the key events hosted in the Peatland Pavilion are outlined below. Alongside the physical Peatland Pavilion in Glasgow the events will be livestreamed on the Virtual Peatland Pavilion.

Register here for the live online events. Once the registration process is completed a notification of the Virtual Pavilion Opening will be sent.

Monday 1st of November | 17:00-18:30 (GMT) | Global Peatlands Initiative (GPI) - Opening of the Peatland Pavilion - Countries demonstrating success

Coordinated by UNEP & GPI

In this session, UNEP will present its work on peatlands through its GPI, highlighting the importance and the need of having a Peatland Pavilion in the most important Climate change conference and its objectives. The session will also celebrate GPI partner countries who will share success stories and best practices and highlight the opportunity that peatlands represent as a super Nature-Based Solution in their country, and worldwide.

Tuesday 2nd of November | 11:30-13:30 (GMT) | Accelerating peatland action through NDCs

Coordinated by Wetlands International

Healthy peatlands store vast amounts of carbon, but they can become a huge source of emissions upon degradation. If we are to reach the 1,5 degree target they need to be urgently safeguarded and restored. To make that happen, peatlands need to be included as part of countries NDC’s as this will ensure that action on peatlands is included in country climate action plans.

Tuesday 2nd of November | 14:00-15:30 (GMT) | Peatlands in climate commitments - Exchange of experience on NDC and Long-Term Strategies

Coordinated by Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO, UNEP & GPI)

The high-level panel will be exchanging experience on the inclusion of peatlands into climate commitments, such as the Nationally determined commitments to the Paris climate agreement, as well as Long-term low greenhouse gas emission development strategies for the period after 2030. Republic of the Congo, Indonesia, Peru, Chile, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Germany will be sharing their experiences and responding to questions from the floor.

Tuesday 2nd of November | 18:30-20:00 (GMT) | Peatlands restoration for greater resilience and adaptation

Coordinated by US Forest Service & Center for International Forest Research (CIFOR): SWAMP

Peatlands occur on every continent and take many different forms from warm tropics to cold circumpolar regions. Anthropogenic impacts on peatland ecosystems due to drainage and degradation has resulted in loss of many valued ecosystem services. Efforts to restore degraded peatlands to enhance ecological integrity and human resilience have seen mixed levels of success, and this session is aimed at sharing some of those success stories and new learnings that have been gathered in the recent past.

Wednesday 3rd of November | 15:30-17:00 (GMT) | Principles of NbS: Demonstrating Success

Coordinated by International National Trust Organisation, National Trust & National Trust Scotland

The session will present an impressive range of actions and commitments that have been delivered by the National Trust’s across the UK for the conservation of peatlands. These actions will be brought to life by case studies presented by Trust colleagues from all nations of the UK – demonstrating diversity of people and approaches. The messages we share at CoP will be communicated to our combined membership of over 6 million people.

Thursday 4th of November | 9:30-11:00 (GMT) | Unlocking private finance for peatlands

Coordinated by Wetlands International

Healthy peatlands store vast amounts of carbon, but they can become a huge source of emissions upon degradation. If we are to reach the 1,5 degree target they need to be urgently safeguarded and restored. To make that happen, private finance has to be mobilised at scale. Successful examples exist ranging from a transition to climate smart land use (paludiculture) to galvanizing voluntary carbon markets. Yet, to unlock private finance for peatlands at scale we need to overcome several barriers and amplify enablers as identified by various practitioners.

Thursday 4th of November | 11:30-13:30 (GMT) | Generation peat: investing in Scotland’s future

Coordinated by Scottish Government

This event presents the advanced state of peatland restoration science and practice in Scotland, and highlights the critical contributions of landowners and private investment in scaling up restoration even further in future. The event will appeal to those with landowner, policy, research and finance interests. Internationally, this event will benefit policymakers of boreal peatland nations. High-profile speakers will ignite discussions on the practical steps towards investing in peatland as a nature-based solution to the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss.

Thursday 4th of November | 17:00-18:30 (GMT) | Economics of Peatlands: the case for urgent action

Coordinated by UNEP, SRUC & GPI

This session brings together leading peatland economists to consider the economic case for early action to restore and sustainably manage global peatlands as a nature-based solution to climate change.

Friday 5th of November | 9:30-11:00 (GMT) | South-South Collaboration and working together

Coordinated by UNEP, ITPC, GPI & CIFOR

The ITPC, established in 2018 is a hub facilitating joint tropical peatlands research and inter-disciplinary dialogues to advance the conservation and sustainable management of peatlands globally. Countries will share their progress and goals while ITPC will formally welcome Peru and DRC. The ITPC will also celebrate GMC joining as the first academic institution to commit to establishing an exchange program. These milestones represent further steps toward impactful interdisciplinary research and collaboration.

Friday 5th of November | 15:30-16:30 (GMT) | Connecting Peatland Research

Coordinated by SRUC & UNEP & GPI

This session brings together members of the Global Peatlands Initiative Research Working Group with the international Adaptation Research Alliance (ARA) to discuss how the peatland researcher community can drive transformational change in global climate research efforts towards more action-oriented, transdisciplinary, inclusive, empowering and impactful. The session is based on ARA principles, launched at COP26 and new research on impact culture, and will enable participants to evaluate how their own research culture drives or inhibits impact, whilst discussing options to drive more healthy, transformational research with colleagues from across the peatland research community.

Monday 8th of November | 11:00-12:30 (GMT) | Partners for Wetlands: Decade for Wetland Restoration

Coordinated by Secretariat of the Convention on Wetlands

The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030 aims to halt the degradation of ecosystems, and restore them to achieve global goals. Wetlands provide unrivalled opportunity to deliver on these shared global goals, whether related to biodiversity, sustainable development, or climate. The International Organization Partners of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands – BirdLife International, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Wetlands International (WI), the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT), and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) – constitutes a unique partnership committed to the protection, wise use and restoration of wetlands, and to leveraging this towards a successful UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.

Tuesday 9th of November | 16:00-17:30 (GMT) | State of peatland knowledge - Global Peatlands Assessment & Mapping

Coordinated by GMC, UNEP, FAO & UNEP-WCMC

The session will elaborate on the urgently needed spatial data for peatlands globally and in high resolution to prevent their drainage and degradation and thus, tackle the challenges of Climate Change. It will point to the urgency of more general definitions for peat and peatland, and for an integrative approach that stimulates the use of all available data to develop comprehensive (but partly tentative) peatland distribution maps - if peat information is missing. Furthermore, the state-of-the-knowledge on global peatland distribution will be outlined, the Global Peatland Map introduced, and gaps in coverage indicated.

Tuesday 9th of November | 20:00-22:00 (GMT) | Youth for Peatlands Climate and Nature Action

Coordinated by YEW, RE-PEAT, IFSA, IAAS & GPI

This hybrid session will involve a dialogue between the voices of youth, and more senior professionals working on peatlands from environmental and natural resources perspectives, before opening the discussion to all attendees.

Wednesday 10th of November | 13:00-14:30 (GMT) | The England Peat Action Plan

Coordinated by DEFRA and Natural England

This event will showcase the EPAP through policies to restore, protect and reduce degradation etc., improve peatland health in England to both mitigate and adapt to climate change (i.e. positioning peatlands as a nature-based solution to flood risk); and demonstrate collaboration with stakeholders to restore, better protect and manage all peatlands.

Wednesday 10th of November | 15:00-16:30 (GMT) | Peatland protection in Germany – a new policy approach

Coordinated by German Ministry of Environment (BMU), GMC, UNEP & GPI

The event will present the progress achieved in Germany for peatland protection by bringing together different involved stakeholders on the stage. It will display the interplay of policies on different levels and the value of and experience with the exchange with stakeholders and science for the development of peatland protection policies.

Wednesday 10th of November | 17:00-18:30 (GMT) | Leveraging MEA synergies: Peatland protection and restoration for climate outcomes

Coordinated by Ramsar, UNEP, BfN, UNCCD, CBD, UNFCCC & GPI

The session will highlight peatland restoration as a critical policy commitment across Rio - Conventions and other biodiversity related agreements to stabilize climate, water regime, reduce land degradation and improve livelihood of local communities. The example of Belarus Republic will showcase the synergy for enhanced commitments and demonstrate action on rehabilitation of drained peatlands.

Friday 12th of November | 9:00-10:30 (GMT) | Activating stakeholders in peatland restoration – successes and failures

Coordinated by Government of Iceland & GPI

Peatland restoration is one of the key nature-based solutions available to climate change, as damaged peatlands are a huge source of greenhouse gas emission worldwide. Peatland restoration activities are driven by, for instance, governmental policies, direct/indirect incentives, active stakeholder involvement, various partnerships, economic benefits, scientific and technical knowledge of restoration and awareness on the multiple importance of peatlands. In this session we will bring together participants to discuss ways to leverage peatland restoration worldwide.

Friday 12th of November | 11:00-13:00 (GMT) | Dialogues towards a European Peatlands Initiative

Coordinated by Irish Government, Bax & Company, UNEP, GPI, Eurosite & GMC

Europe has seen the greatest area of peatland drainage of any continent. To reverse this trend all stakeholders must come together and accelerate action. Bringing together European ministers and peatland experts, this event will outline the need for an open, pan-european collaboration on peatlands. Ministers will share the lessons Europe can learn from their countries’ peatland restoration efforts, expert stakeholders will outline their outlook for the future, and ministers will discuss the benefits future collaboration could bring.

Friday 12th of November | 17:00-18:30 (GMT) | Global Peatland Pavilion Closing Session: Key messages & way forward for CoP26 & Beyond

Coordinated by International UK Peatland Programme & GPI

In this closing session we will reflect on the key messages, actions and next steps for conserving and restoring global peatlands.

Contact person for the event

Dianna Kopansky, Programme Management Officer & Global Peatlands Coordinator, Terrestrial Ecosystems Unit, Ecosystems Division, UN Environment Programme, dianna.kopansky@un.org +254 721530246

To get the full programme, click here.

To register, click here.

Click here to explore the Virtual Peatlands Pavilion. Learn about this valuable ecosystem through the many interactive features, including multimedia elements.