Protecting and conserving peatlands: A global purpose
June 17, 2024In 2022, we joined the Venice Agreement as a foundation, a historic commitment made by institutions and nature custodians from around the world to protect peatlands, and through which standards and practices for the effective protection of these wetlands were renewed and updated.
In 2024, Fundación Kreen, in conjunction with Ay Ciencia and the La Chalupa workshop, held one of the local workshops under the Venice Agreement, which we joined as a foundation in 2022. The workshop fostered dialogue among participants, primarily from Puerto Aysén, exploring concepts, ideas, and actions to contribute to the conservation and protection of this vital source of life, carbon sink, and habitat for numerous species.
The La Chalupa workshop participated in the discussion, sharing their screen-printed art inspired by the shapes and textures of peat bogs, which can be found throughout much of the Aysén region of Patagonia and also in the Meullín-Puye Nature Sanctuary.
Local workshops, such as the one conducted by the foundation in Puerto Aysén, were replicated in various locations around the world, and all the resulting content was shared at the biennial meeting of the Venice Agreement, held on June 2nd in Portugal on World Peatlands Day.
This event brought together more than 100 participants, including researchers, artists, specialists, and leaders from countries and institutions, from around the world such as Kenya, Estonia, Romania, Norway, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the United States, Argentina, and Chile.
Local workshop held in Puerto Aysén by Fundación Kreen and Ayciencia.
Venice Agreement 2024
The Venice Accord is a unique effort to build decolonial leadership and uphold the rights of peatlands through transdisciplinary collaborations and a grassroots approach that recognizes local initiatives as key to the global process of their protection. Conceived as a living document and a tool for conservation, it addresses the climate crisis and biodiversity loss through direct action. The 2024 Venice Accord meeting was organized by Ensayos, the Wildlife Conservation Society Chile, and the Michael Succow Foundation, a partner of the Greifwald Mire Center, with support from the interdisciplinary collective Double-U-Replay and the Centre for Geographical Studies at the University of Lisbon.
The participants in Torres Vedras spent two days engaged in dialogue, effectively mapping their peatlands, collaborative drafting, editing, and defining the future governance of the Venice Agreement. They visited coastal peatlands threatened by increased tourism and real estate development. The discussions drew on experiences from thirteen local workshops held in diverse locations such as Porvenir, Puerto Aysén, and Puerto Williams in Chile; Ushuaia in Argentina; Tromsø in Norway; and Moffat in Scotland.
The results of the local workshops were carefully processed by Antonieta Eguren, Human Dimension Specialist at WCS Chile, and shared with the group gathered in Torres Vedras for their input in the decision-making process. In this way, important locally driven guidelines were obtained that emphasized accessible education about peatlands, the development of strategic frameworks for effective conservation actions, the sharing of meaningful resources and the identification of new threats to peatlands, such as pollution, public infrastructure and the growing effects of climate change.
Source: Wildlife Conservation Society Chile Press Release
More information at https://theveniceagreement.net/
