The Venice Agreement on Peatlands is a living, breathing community tool for transdisciplinary peatland conservation. It is a medium of connection, a practice of coming together across differences. Co-created by artists, scientists, Indigenous leaders, policy makers, and land stewards, it weaves together diverse knowledges and experiences in service of local action with global resonance.
It invites us to reimagine conservation as a shared responsibility - one rooted not only in ecological data, but also in ancestral memory, spiritual connection, and cultural continuity. It shifts the center of gravity away from top-down mandates, toward a bottom-up, place-based ecology of care.
The Venice Agreement functions as:
A POINT OF ENCOUNTER BETWEEN SCIENTIFIC INNOVATION AND POETIC IMAGINATION.
A LANGUAGE LABORATORY FOR TRANSLATING VALUES ACROSS CULTURES AND DISCIPLINES.
A TUNING DEVICE FOR AMPLIFYING THE VOICES OF PEATLAND GUARDIANS WORLDWIDE.
A COMPOSTING GROUND WHERE WE LET GO OF EXTRACTIVE NORMS, AND GIVE SPACE FOR RECIPROCITY IN POLICY AND PERFORMANCE TO BE IN THE FOREGROUND.
How We Organise
The Venice Agreement Organising Committee has evolved into a structure of co-governance and shared responsibility. It acts as a relay between those who initiated the Agreement (Camila Marambio, Antonieta Eguren, Fernanda Olivares, and Nicole Püschel) and a growing group of peatland protectors who are co-shaping its next iterations (Suza Husse, Miguel Geraldes, Caroline Vitzthum, Cisca Devereux, Leonard Akwany). The committee steers from the sidelines, guided by trust, collaboration, and continuity.
As we look toward the 2026 gathering in Kenya, the committee serves as a bridge between past and future – carrying questions, stories, and commitments from Venice into new peat soils. It holds space for intergenerational, intercultural, and interdisciplinary exchanges that keep the Agreement alive.
235 signatories across 17 countries
The Venice Agreement in Numbers
The Venice Agreement, born in 2022, was witnessed by around 300 people, of whom 235 became its earliest signatories. These were the first individuals to commit to protecting peatlands on a global scale, yet with a local grounding.
The beginning was incredible: 235 people across 17 countries!
As this remarkable community tool evolved, in 2024, the vows of love and protection for peatlands were joyfully renewed - first with a vibrant local gathering in Torres Vedras, Portugal, and then through 13 inspiring underground workshops that convened around 220 passionate people from 17 countries.
Hundreds came together for the love of peatlands, motivated by the need for change and a readiness to move forward in ways that honour the needs of these remarkable ecosystems.
