Bog pools at Cuilcagh Mountain SAC. Credit: Paul Corbett.
Conference 2025 - Water Connections: from Source to Sea
30th September – 2nd October
Derry~Londonderry
Our 2025 conference was delivered as part of Northern Ireland Environment Link annual Environment Week, which had a peatland focus that year. This was an exciting time for peatlands in Northern Ireland, with progress being made towards a national Peatland Strategy, the first Peatland Code projects now registered, and restoration starting to upscale.
The conference took us to the Ebrington Hotel in the old walled city of Derry~Londonderry in Northern Ireland. In our venue on the banks of the River Foyle and in visits to diverse peatlands across the region, we explored the theme ‘Water Connections: from Source to Sea’. We explored the deep cultural associations and sense of identity connected to peatlands in Northern Ireland, and policy drivers reflecting changing attitudes to peatland management. We also examined the importance of water in these landscapes and the role of peatlands at catchment scale as a nature-based solution.
Day 1 presentations and posters
The conference opened with plenary sessions introducing the work of the IUCN UK Peatland Programme, Northern Ireland’s progress towards a national Peatland Strategy and the cultural history of Northern Ireland’s peatlands. The day also featured a water research panel discussion and showcased peatlands from around the world in our Virtual Peatlands Pavilion.
Please see a selection of posters from the conference by clicking on the images in the gallery below.
Day 3 presentations
The final day of the conference opened with a plenary sharing successes and challenges for the latest generation of peatland restoration practitioners, and concluded with a plenary session reflecting on findings from the conference with representatives from across the UK.
Workshops and knowledge sharing sessions
The third day of our conference saw a series of knowledge exchange sessions and workshops and the discussion of issues facing peatland restoration.