WaterLANDS artists chosen to contribute to an international agreement to protect peatlands

Pictured: Kismu in Kenya courtesy of The Venice Agreement

Laura Harrington, one of the two UK WaterLANDS artists-in-residence, was sponsored to take part in the Third Biennial international Venice Agreement (VA) gathering in Kisumu, Kenya (June 2 – 5).

Her participation in the event was supported by the Venice Agreement (VA) and the United Nation’s Environment Programme-led Global Peatlands Initiative on behalf of Ecofinder Kenya. 

Laura was chosen for her experience and commitment to peatland protection,

She arrived on World Peatlands Day 2026 to the event held to amplify the significance of peatlands across social, cultural, and environmental perspectives, locally and globally.

It was very special to be involved as an artist. It was a chance to not just talk about my work for WaterLANDS but to give a much broader sense of its value and where it could lead to.” said: Laura Harrington

This year the VA was hosted around the wetlands of Dunga Swamp and Yala Swamp on the shores of Nam Lolwe / Lake Victoria for around 50 people.

It’s great to be able to share my perspective as an artist with so many people and have it valued and used to make something happen to protect peatlands. Seven different challenges have been outlined as part of last year’s discussion, we decided to focus on Cultural attitudes and traditional livelihood.

This gathering centres around the ecological realities, histories and futures of African peatlands and the communities who care for them.  They’re living territories sustaining fishing communities, water systems, papyrus craft traditions, and complex more-than-human relationships, yet continually facing pressures from drainage, burning, and land conversion”
added Laura.

The Venice Agreement gathering has become a vital network that has grown since Venice in 2022 into a living community and practice for coming together as artists, scientists, and local people, locally, culturally, globally.

Leonard Akwany, one of very few people working with peatlands in East Africa spoke at the event about how awareness of Africa’s 40 million hectares of peatlands is growing beyond the Congo Basin. He was smiling at the sight of bringing the Venice Agreement to Kisumu said Laura.

Across the week, peatland custodians, artists, scientists, indigenous leaders, activists, and community members exchanged knowledge and strengthen relationships rooted in reciprocity and care.

In preparation for the Venice Agreement gathering, an ‘Underground Workshop’ (one of 18 across 21 countries) was held as part of the WaterLANDS Grand Assembly meeting in Estonia to get views from all the artists to feed into the Venice Agreement at a grassroot level.

The idea is that local workshops are held simultaneously across continents and voices, stories, songs, questions, and friendships come from the earth and bubble up overground. They are essential for amplifying the voices of peatland communities and contributing directly to the VA 2026 outcomes.

The aim of the Venice Agreement is to draw international attention to the preservation and restoration of peatlands for climate and people.

It started four years ago on World Peatland Day when scientists and artists from all over the world, came together with representatives from indigenous peoples, climate policy, nature conservation and the business community. WaterLANDS partners, the Michael Succow Foundation and We are here Venice played key roles in organising the workshop.

For two days, peatland conservationists and artists from Argentina, Chile, Scotland, Germany, the United States, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Kenya, Uganda and Uruguay worked out the agreement on site. The result is a creative work – on one hand, a poem full of beauty and inspiration as well as concrete needs and values that are needed to protect peatlands worldwide. On the other, a map with wishes and solutions from peatland conservationists from all over the world.

Other joined online for the ceremonial signing – experts from environmental science, nature conservation, climate policy and contemporary art, but also representatives of the indigenous people of Tierra del Fuego presented their different views on the protection of peatlands.

The biennial meeting is organised by the Venice Agreement Organising Committee, led by Ecofinder Kenya, and brings together nine members from seven different countries: Leonard Akwany (Ecofinder), Antonieta Eguren and Nicole Püschel (Wildlife Conservation Society, Chile), Suza Husse (Greifswald Mire Center), Camila Marambio.

Follow us on Instagram for ongoing updates, stories, and sounds from peatlands around the world:

This year’s meeting focuses on showcasing Africa’s diverse peatlands, strengthening global peatland networks, agreeing on the evolving infrastructure of the Agreement, advancing reciprocal commitments led by local stewards, and co-creating a living menu of practical, values-based approaches to peatland conservation.

These are the seven most important challenges identified by the VA community in their peatland work:

1. Lack of environmental education and public awareness regarding peatlands
2. Poor legal and political frameworks
3. Peatland threat control
4. Cultural attitudes and traditional livelihood
5. Scientific information availability
6. Insufficient collaborative spaces
7. Lack of funding

Artists bring unique contributions to conservation including:

• Offering ways of knowing wetlands that are slower, sensory, and not driven by measurable outcomes
• Providing an independent, critical voice not shaped by finance or politics
• Creating conditions for open, generative conversation
• Making visible what data and science alone cannot show.

Some of the activities that happened during the gathering are:

The Peatland Communities Map

Developing a map to be a growing record of the communities caring for peatlands around the world, the stories they carry, the initiatives they have built, and the knowledge they choose. It gathers information about who is doing the work and about the local initiatives they have built to protect the peatlands they call home.

WETSOUND Radio

 A mobile radio station airing from Dunga Swamp, Kisumu, Kenya featuring the sounds of swamps, songs, stories, conversations, laughter, field recordings, and the many voices of peatlands speaking through their custodians. 

A Living Menu of How-To’s

A community-built resource of practical tools and methodologies from VA custodians.No single community holds all the answers – together they are accumulating a remarkable body of practical wisdom. 

Pictured below: Underground workshop in Estonia courtesy of The Venice Agreement