Our conference this year was kindly opened by Julie James MS, Minister for Climate change in the Senedd Cymru. The minster highlighted the role that peatlands have to play as nature-based solutions in addressing the twin crises of biodiversity loss and climate change and announced that, along with her colleagues in government, she had agreed to triple the peatland restoration target in Wales through the Natural Resources Wales National Peat Action Plan (NPAP).
Center: Julie James MS Minister for Climate change,Senedd Cymru, Left and Right Delegates networking around poster boards (©Drew Buckley Photography).
Our welcome was then continued by Clare Pillman, the Chief Executive of Natural Resources Wales. Clare thanked the Minister and the Welsh government for their commitment to peatlands, nature and a sustainable future and called to end the sales of peat containing products. Clare then went to highlight the significant work of the Welsh LIFE Raised bogs project and NPAP and the importance of all the UK peatland Initiatives working collaboratively to achieve our peatland restoration goals.
Read conference forewords by Julie James MS and Stuart Brooks (Chair of the IUCN UK Peatland Programme and Director of Conservation & Policy at the National Trust for Scotland) in our conference programme.
UK Strategy Progress – Update
An overview of the UK Peatland Strategy – Emma Hinchliffe (IUCN UK PP)
Nation Updates:
England – Sophie Chapman (Defra), Wanda Fojt (Natural England), Katharine Birdsall (Environment Agency)
Northern Ireland – Dave Foster (DAERA)
Scotland – Ben Dipper (Scottish Government)
Wales – James Cooke (Welsh Government), Peter Jones (Natural Resources Wales)
Left: Clare Pilman, Centre Left: Four Nation Representatives (left to right) James Cooke, Pete Jones, Dave Foster, Wanda Fojt, Katharine Birdsall, Sophie Chapman, Ben Dipper, Centre Right: Rhoswen Leonard, Right Rob Stoneman (©Drew Buckley Photography).
UK Strategy Progress – Delivery at Scale
Welsh National Peatland Action Programme – Rhoswen Leonard (Natural Resources Wales - NPAP)
Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts – Rob Stoneman (Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts)
WaterLANDS project (England, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland & Europe) - Craig Bullock (University College Dublin)
Peatland Action – Peter Hutchinson (NatureScot)
Global Peatlands Initiative – Dianna Kopansky (United Nations Environment Programme)
