Photograph by Enrico Fiorese: The Chiesa di San Lorenzo.

On World Peatland Day on 2 June 2022, scientists and artists, together with representatives from indigenous peoples, climate policy, nature conservation and business announced the Venice Agreement at the Venice Biennale. WaterLANDS partners the Michael Succow Foundation and We are here Venice played key roles in organising the workshop.

The aim of the Venice Agreement is to draw international attention to the preservation and restoration of peatlands for climate and people.

For two days, peatland conservationists and artists from Argentina, Chile, Scotland, Germany, the United States, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Kenya, Uganda and Uruguay worked out the agreement on site. The result is a creative work – on one hand, a poem full of beauty and inspiration as well as concrete needs and values that are needed to protect peatlands worldwide. On the other, a map with wishes and solutions from peatland conservationists from all over the world.

For the ceremonial signing, other interested parties joined online. Experts from environmental science, nature conservation, climate policy and contemporary art, but also representatives of the indigenous people of Tierra del Fuego presented their different views on the protection of peatlands. These included presentations from experts and decision-makers such as Prof. Dr. Hans Joosten of the Greifswald Moor Centrum and Dianna Kopansky, coordinator of the Global Peatlands Initiative at the UN Environment Programme.