Global Peatlands Initiative Fourth Meeting of the Partners

Co-hosted by the UN Environment Programme and Peru’s Ministry of the Environment, the Global Peatlands Initiative members and partners will meet in Peru from 30 June – 4 July 2026. The 67-member strong GPI gathers in Latin America for the first time ever as a South South collaboration and exchange meeting to shine the spotlight on the work of Peru through the years in the GPI partnership to protect, restore and sustain their critical peatland water-towers in the Andes, the water source for Lima and the Amazon River that builds through the lowland peatland forests and stretches across the Amazon Basin.  

Globally, peatlands cover just 3% of the planet's land surface, yet they hold twice as much carbon than all the world's forest biomass combined, and sustain biodiversity, livelihoods, water security and climate stability. 

Peatlands are diverse, from the “aguajales’ of the Peruvian Amazon to the “bofedales” of the high Andes, from Colombia to the rainforests of the Congo Basin, Indonesia and South-East Asia, from the Mongolian steppe and the Far North tundra to Patagonia, peatlands are found in almost every country and across every major climate zone on Earth. But today, peatlands are under unprecedented pressure and degrading in 177 countries, putting one of the planet's overlooked yet globally vital ecosystems at risk. 

Under the theme “Peatlands as livelihoods and the conditions for their conservation and sustainable management", the meeting will showcase the latest in peatland science, practice, policy and finance. This meeting will serve as a key platform to deepen the science-policy interface, advance South-South and Triangular Cooperation, and step up action towards the conservation, restoration and sustainable management of peatlands worldwide.   

Key info 

• Dates:  Technical sessions: Lima, Peru from 30 June – 2 July 2026, Field Trips: National Reserve (3-4 July by invitation-only), and Wetland (3 July for GPI meeting participants) 

• Format: In-person, with online participation for GPI members  

• Hosts: UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Ministry of the Environment, Peru (MINAM) 

What to expect 

Three days of technical sessions in Lima, followed by south south and triangular exchange-focused field visits. The programme is organised around the four GPI intervention areas: 

Science / Knowledge: The latest on tropical peatlands; global mapping and monitoring, ecology and hydrology, climate change and emission pathways, and the role of Indigenous knowledge alongside scientific research. 

Policy: Peatlands in NDCs, NBSAPs and Land Degradation Neutrality targets, and collaboration across the Multilateral Environmental Agreements; UNFCCC, CBD, UNCCD, Ramsar Convention on Wetlands and CMS. 

Practice: South–South and Triangular Cooperation, the International Tropical Peatlands Centre, regional peatland initiatives, and the practical work of conservation, restoration and rewetting. 

Finance: Resource mobilisation for peatland action; public finance instruments, blended finance, and innovative private mechanisms including carbon markets, payments for ecosystem services, and green bonds. 

Who will be there  

Representatives from many of our 67 GPI members, our valued partners, and country beneficiaries countries which include: Peru, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, Mongolia and Indonesia alongside a number of our supporting partner countries of Chile, Uganda, Japan, Brazil and Germany.  

Stay connected 

Follow #PeatlandsMatter and #GlobalPeatlandsInitiative for live coverage and post-event outcomes across Instagram and LinkedIn.  

Coordination of the 4th Meeting of the GPI Members is supported by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUKN).