Event at Biosintru, Ecommunitypark 5, Osterwolde from May 18 to May 19, 2026.

Final sign-up round ends Wednesday 13th of May 2026. (Registration Closed)
Please note: This symposium is free and the venue is limited in capacity, which means we might not accept your application. We will let you know by email if you have a spot.

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About the symposium

This two-day symposium aimed to initiate dialogue between generations, transfer knowledge, and offer young people concrete opportunities to take action for peatlands and climate justice.

# On the first day (18th of May) we invited over 100 youth participants, and over 30 experts, to take part in a crash course on Dutch peatlands. Participants were selected from relevant backgrounds in the region.

Outline of the programme:
Each participant experienced two sessions to understand two systems that interact with peatlands.
They were led by experts and looked into how and why peatlands relate to agriculture and land use, health and well-being, cultural identity and knowledge, future work and sustainable economies, and climate justice.

Speakers include world famous peatland scientist Hans Joosten and slow fashion UK start-up Ponda!

Mid-afternoon, participants, facilitators and experts will collaborated in groups to co-create bold ideas for peatland restoration camps and help develop RE-PEAT’s latest programme Peat in Practice (PiP). With only eight spots available, a raffle opened up for sign ups to join the organisers team for the upcoming camp. At the end of the day, groups shared their ideas and all had a few stickers to place on the strongest concepts. At the end of the day, we announced the eight people, joining RE-PEAT’s PiP programme, building an intergenerational network across Europe to restore peatlands through camps. Working alongside RE-PEAT with a 10,000€ budget to help design and attend a hands-on restoration camp in the Netherlands in August 2026.

# On the second day (19th May), in collaboration with the local land managers, we went on an excursions to the Fochteloërveen guided by Natuurmonumente, where the participants experienced what a healthy peatland looks and feels like.

Language of the Symposium:

Dutch and English

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poster & programme

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About the speakers

A woman holding a puppet with a tree branch for a head and a puppet with earth-tone clothing.

A green informational poster featuring a portrait of a woman with short dark hair, wearing a blue shirt, standing outdoors against a large tree with a background of green foliage. The poster highlights her as a landscape archaeologist at University College Dublin, with her name, Floor Huisman, and pronouns, She/Her, shown at the bottom. The text discusses her interests in peatland archaeology, human-peatland interaction, and natural and cultural elements of bogs.

Photograph of Austin Shepherd, an Agriculture Lead at Ponda, standing in an industrial or laboratory setting, wearing a gray shirt, with technical equipment in the background. The background of the image contains green-themed text and graphic design with details about Austin's role and background in sustainable agriculture.

A portrait of Camille Sapara Barton, a woman of color with short dark hair and a small top knot, standing outdoors amidst greenery and red flowers. She wears a white embroidered shirt with colorful floral patterns and looks directly at the camera. The background includes information about her work as a writer, social designer, advisor, and artist, highlighting her focus on Black Feminism, ecology, and harm reduction, and mentioning her authorship of a book in 2024.

A poster featuring a portrait of Hans Joosten, an older man with glasses, white hair, and a beard, wearing a colorful plaid shirt. The poster is titled "Young People Old Peat Symposium" and highlights his work as a professor and peatland scientist at The Peatland Library - Greifswald Mire Centre, detailing his research and achievements.

Photograph of Elise Allély-Fermé, an environmental specialist, on a digital symposium poster. The poster has a green textured background with her portrait framed in a green border on the left. In the upper right corner, it says "YOUNG PEOPLE OLD PEAT Symposium." Below her picture, the text highlights her role as a Senior Technical Officer at Wetlands International, with details about her experience and focus areas. Her name is prominently displayed at the bottom, along with her pronouns, She/Her.

Photograph of Tjeerd Veenhoven, a middle-aged man with a beard and short hair, dressed in a black shirt, set against a dark background. The image is part of a promotional graphic for a symposium titled "Young People Old Peat," with description about Tjeerd Veenhoven as a product designer focused on sustainable systems.

Portrait of Coen Verboom, a young man with short blonde hair, wearing a light blue shirt, standing in an indoor setting. The background includes blurred lights and furniture.

A woman wearing a yellow shirt standing in front of a blackboard with a South African and Canadian flag. Text indicates she is Althea Grundling, a research team manager at the South African Agricultural Research Council's Water Science Institute.

Portrait of Petra Boorsma, a woman with shoulder-length blonde hair, wearing a dark denim shirt, smiling against a warm indoor background, with accompanying green text about her leadership in innovation, sustainability, and societal transformation.

A young woman with glasses and a braided hair in a hoodie and denim jacket, smiling outdoors with green trees in the background. Text on the image introduces her as Bobbi, a strategy and campaigns coordinator at RE-PEAT, an advocate for peatland, climate, and social justice, living in the Netherlands.

A large audience attending a symposium in a spacious room with high windows, where a presentation is displayed on a large screen at the front. The event is focused on youth and old peat, and features a musician playing cello.

A photograph of a woman and a man performing music together. The woman is using a small electronic instrument, and the man is playing a cello. The setting appears to be indoors, possibly a studio or gallery, with equipment visible in the background.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TogJ4mGhLIs

About the sessions at

Biosintrum May 18th

opening ceremony

Keynote speaker: Hans Joosten, a world-renowned peatland scientist, will share his insights on what peatlands are and their importance.

Poster for a symposium titled 'Young People Old Peat' featuring a session titled 'What can we do?' by speaker Petra Boorma discussing biomaterials, innovation, and paludiculture, with emphasis on collaboration with farmers, entrepreneurs, and authorities to create wetland applications and developing new revenue models for sustainable society; note mentions language is Dutch.

Poster for a symposium titled 'Listening to the Peat' featuring speakers Kristina Mau Hansen and Antonin Chudoba, discussing sound art, multispecies chorus, and immersive performances exploring sound resonance, empathy, and interdependence between bodies, environments, and atmospheres.

Flyer for a symposium titled "Climate Justice, Culture, Identity" with a session called "Why should we care?" led by speaker Bobbi, focusing on youth-led change, intersectionality, and climate justice, discussing societal challenges like fascism, climate collapse, genocide, and the role of peatlands in a regenerative future.

First SessionS 12-12.45 (CEST)

Poster for a session titled 'Peatlands & the body: Exploring the entanglement between peatlands, our physical and mental health' at Young People Old Peat symposium, featuring speaker Camille Sapara Barton, with details about the session and its focus on health, ecosystems, and embodiment practices.

Workshop flyer with green background and white text. Title: 'Session: Scaling Typha: Collaborative Solutions for Paludiculture' by Austin Shepherd. Description of workshop on wetland cultivation, stakeholder roles, sustainable supply chains, and ecological benefits. Slogan: 'future work, agriculture and land use' written vertically on the right.

Text-based informational poster about a symposium titled 'Tales From the Bog - The cultural and natural meanings of bogs' featuring speakers Floor Huisman and Kate Foster. The poster discusses the cultural, archaeological, and ecological significance of bogs, highlighting their biodiversity, role in climate change mitigation, and cultural value, with an emphasis on peatlads' complex relationships with humans, rituals, and art.

Event poster for a symposium about South African peatlands, featuring speakers Renée Grundling, Piet-Louis Grundling, and Althea Grundling, focusing on opportunity, climate change, and justice.

Poster for a symposium titled "Young People Old Peat" with a session on future farming. The session features speaker Jasper van Belle discussing benefits and challenges of wet peatland farming, water level management, and climate impact reduction, with emphasis on paludiculture practices.

Paludi lunch

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A woman with gray hair wearing glasses and a gray sweater receiving a bowl of food from a man with curly brown hair, both standing in front of a display of informational posters on a wall at an indoor event.

A display of multiple glasses of champagne on a table, with chalkboard signs indicating flavors like 'Black currant' and 'Water mint,' in a rustic indoor setting with wood-paneled walls.

People sitting around a black round table enjoying a meal in a room with wooden support beams and potted plant, some with backpacks on chairs.

Photographer: Savannah van den Roovaart

Second SessionS 14-14.45 (CEST)

Information poster about a design research presentation on wetlands, rainfed crop practices, and sustainable design, with details about the session and speaker, and a theme on future work and sustainable economies.

A green poster with yellow and white text promoting a symposium about sustainable work and future economies, focusing on a session titled, 'From Paludi Culture to Construction,' by speaker Coen Verboom.

Conference flyer with dark green background, green and white text about a session on peatlands and climate justice, including the title, speaker, and summary in English and Dutch.

Conference program poster with dark green background and white text, titled 'Session: Youth Engagement and Enabling Pathways for Wetland Conservation' by Elise Allély-Fermé, discussing youth roles in wetland conservation and system change, with keywords youth engagement, systemic change, wetland conservation, and in Dutch.

Workshop poster titled 'Session: How Do We Relate to Land?' by Ikram Hamdi Mansour, discussing landscapes, ecosystems, regenerative thinking, and climate justice, with green and white text on a dark green background.

Audience seated in a conference hall, taking notes, facing a stage with a green couch and a speaker at a podium.

A group of people sitting around a large wooden table in a modern conference room with floor-to-ceiling windows showing a grassy outside area and parked cars. The table has laptops, notebooks, glasses, and other conference materials.

Group photo of diverse young people and adults gathered in a large indoor space, smiling and posing for the camera at a symposium event about young and old peats, held on May 18-19, 2026, with a large presentation screen behind them.

Group of people riding red bicycles on a forest trail surrounded by green trees on a sunny day.

People gathered in a busy indoor restaurant or cafe, some standing and chatting, others seated and eating. The setting features wooden beams, a tree, and a second-story balcony or platform.

Group of people standing outdoors in a grassy field during cloudy weather, holding a brown banner with green and yellow text that reads 'Young People' and other words, possibly part of a natural or environmental event.

Musicians performing at an indoor event with an audience. A woman stands at a DJ setup with a laptop and mixer, while a man plays a cello beside her. The audience watches attentively.

Photographer: Savannah van den Roovaart

It really takes a village to restore a peatland !
The Young People Old Peat symposium was made possible by an incredibly motivated, youth-led network of organisers, facilitators, helpers, speakers and participants.
The symposium was co-organised by Frankie Turk, Holly Bartley and Petra Boorsma, with special thanks to Milan Matthes Kale and Halima Tantawy for their big support with the hackathon and camp organising this summer. Thank you to all the facilitators and helpers who supported us on the day, and to every speaker who generously shared their knowledge, experiences and perspectives.
Behind every camp and event we do, is a network of people giving their time, skills, care and energy. We’re incredibly grateful for the inspiring and active community that makes all of this possible.

The Young People Old Peat Symposium was organised by RE-PEAT and Biosintrum. Funded through the Erasmus+ project Restoration Academy: Empowering Youth Participation in Nature Restoration, programme of the European Union (KA220-YOU), with generous co-financing from the Biosintrum.