First launched in 2021 as part of COP26 in Glasgow, the Virtual Peatland Pavilions are huge virtual reality spaces filled with resources relating to peatlands around the globe. To raise awareness of the global importance of peatlands during COP29, the latest pavilion has been updated with exciting new content.
The Virtual Peatland Pavilion is a joint initiative between the United Nations Environment Programme’s Global Peatlands Initiative and the IUCN UK Peatland Programme. Both organisations’ work features in the latest pavilion.
Despite only covering around 3% of the world’s land surface, peatlands store more than twice as much carbon as the world’s forests. Sadly, many peatlands are damaged and have therefore become sources of carbon emissions. The Virtual Peatland Pavilion shares the work of the many and varied organisations working to restore and protect peatlands and champion their importance for biodiversity, carbon storage, flood management and as historical and cultural archives.
Designed and curated by Richard Lindsay at the University of East London, the latest pavilion is modelled on the leaves of peat-forming Sphagnum moss and sits in a landscape inspired by the architecture of Baku in Azerbaijan, where COP29 is being held.
The pavilion features everything from family-friendly videos, animations and cartoons to the latest peatland policy reports and scientific briefings. As a giant dragonfly zooms over your head, step up to a virtual globe where you can visit peatlands around the world through immersive tours and photo stories. There are peatland podcasts, the latest peatland films and displays of beautiful peatland artwork.
The pavilion also features inspiring work from artists and organisations encouraging communities to engage creatively and playfully with peatlands. There are educational resources from organisations working to understand and restore peatlands and beautiful footage of the world’s first peatland UNESCO World Heritage Site in Scotland’s Flow Country.
The pavilion update also aims to raise awareness of the important Side Event at COP29: ‘Revealing Global Peatland Hotspots for climate action: bridging science and policy’. During this event, the Global Peatland Hotspot Atlas will be launched, which reveals priority peatland areas for climate action. The recording of this and the other peatland events at COP29 will be available on the UN Climate Change Events YouTube channel after 15th December.
So why not step inside and explore the latest Virtual Peatland Pavilion.
The Global Peatlands Initiative is an effort by leading experts and institutions formed at the UNFCCC COP in Marrakech, Morocco in 2016 to save peatlands as the world’s largest terrestrial organic carbon stock and to prevent it being emitted into the atmosphere.
The IUCN UK Peatland Programme exists to promote peatland restoration in the UK and advocates the multiple benefits of peatlands through partnerships, strong science, sound policy and effective practice.
