The Venice Agreement
on Peatlands
The Venice Agreement on Peatlands is a living, breathing community tool for transdisciplinary peatland conservation. It is a space of connection – a practice of coming together across differences.
Co-created by artists, scientists, Indigenous leaders, policymakers, and land stewards, it weaves together diverse knowledge and experiences in service of local action with global resonance.
The Agreement invites us to reimagine conservation as a shared responsibility – rooted not only in ecological data, but also in ancestral memory, cultural continuity, and more-than-human relationships. It shifts the centre of gravity away from top-down mandates towards a bottom-up, place-based ecology of care.
Founding in Venice, Italy (2022)
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 extractive norms are let go, making space for reciprocity in policy and practice
Workshop in Torres Vedras, Portugal (2024)
RE-PEAT & The Venice Agreement
RE-PEAT is part of the growing international network shaping and carrying the Venice Agreement forward.
As a youth-led organisation advocating for peatland justice through art, activism, and alternative education, RE-PEAT contributes to the Agreement’s commitment to community-led, transdisciplinary peatland care.
Since 2024, RE-PEAT has been represented on the Venice Agreement organising committee, contributing to its co-governance structure and ongoing development. The committee acts as a relay between those who initiated the Agreement and a growing community of peatland custodians and practitioners worldwide.
Through this involvement, RE-PEAT supports the development of international collaborations, knowledge exchange, and grassroots action across peatland regions.
2026 Gathering: Kenya & Underground Workshops
From 2–5 June 2026, the Venice Agreement will convene its third biennial international workshop in the papyrus wetlands of Lake Victoria, Kenya – one of Africa’s most vital and vulnerable peat-forming ecosystems.
Hosted in collaboration withEcofinder Kenya and international partners including theMichael Succow Foundation /Greifswald Mire Center,WCS Chile,RE-PEAT, and theGlobal Peatlands Initiative, the workshop will focus particularly on African peatlands and the communities working to protect them.
The gathering will focus on African peatlands and their custodians, with workshops, field visits, artistic programmes, and the development of a “Living Menu of How-Tos” – practical, values-led approaches to reciprocal, community-based peatland care.
Workshop in Kisumu, Kenya (upcoming, 2–5 June 2026)
Support the Gathering!
To make the 2026 gathering in Kenya possible, we are raising funds to support local community involvement, grassroots participation, as well as translation and interpretation.
To make the 2026 gathering in Kenya possible, we are raising funds to support local community involvement, grassroots participation, translation and interpretation, and other essential costs.
Download the Agreement in 8 languages!
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