What an incredible start of September! The PaluWise team recently returned from the Power to the Peatlands (P2P) 2026 conference in ‘s-Hertogenbosch (NL), and we are still feeling the energy and collaborative spirit shared across the event. As the push to restore Europe’s degraded peatlands gains momentum, bringing together research, local practice, and policy is more important than ever. That is exactly what P2P 2026 achieved, and PaluWise was right at the heart of it, together with our sister projects Palus Demos and Paludi4All.
Joint Stand with Palus Demos and Paludi4All
One of the biggest highlights of our trip was sharing a joint exhibition stand with our EU sister projects, PalusDemos and Paludi4All. Instead of working in silos, our three Horizon Europe initiatives teamed up to demonstrate how integrated research is driving the future of wet farming (paludiculture) and peatland restoration across Europe. Our collaborative stand became a vibrant corner for networking, exchanging ideas, and picking up some fresh project gear! Visitors stopped by to chat with our combined teams and grab our latest promotional items, including: flyers, stickers, tote bags, brochures, t-shirts, pens with lavender seeds… It was a fantastic way to show that while our projects have distinct focus areas, we share an unified mission: scaling up nature-based solutions for resilient landscapes.
PaluWise team leading the scientific conversation
Beyond the exhibition floor, the PaluWise team made a major splash in the conference sessions. Our partners chaired discussions and presented critical findings on everything from soil chemistry to local socio-economic impacts.
Here is a quick overview of the sessions featuring our team:
-
Northern peatlands in transition: PaluWise coordinator Sakari Sarkkola Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) led a packed session exploring management solutions and challenges unique to northern peatland ecosystems.
-
Unlocking scale for biodiversity: Our partner from Radboud University – Christian Fritz, hosted a popular session detailing how expanding paludiculture directly benefits wetland biodiversity.
-
Farmer perspectives in Poland: Aleksandra Leszczyńska from Centrum Ochrony Mokradeł / Wetlands Conservation Centre took to the main stage to deliver an insightful talk on peatland rewetting through the eyes of local farming communities in North-Eastern Poland.
-
Territorial resilience: Our partner Nerijus Zableckis from the Peatland Foundation chaired the session “Nature as a Shield”, focusing on how restoration protects local regions from climate impacts.
-
Socio-economic acceptability: Our collegue from The James Hutton Institute – Alhassan Ibrahim presented key criteria for evaluating how local communities and land managers accept paludiculture transitions.
-
Landscape-scale thinking: Agata Klimkowska from Wetlands International led an engaging session on moving from site-specific restoration to broader landscape-scale planning.
-
Paludiculture in industry: Alba Alonso Adame from Wetlands International – European Association led the “New Friends for Peatlands: Industrial Utilisation of Paludiculture Biomas” session.
-
PaluWise across Europe: Our collegue from University of Warsaw, Wiktor Kotowski, had an amazing presentation about characteristics of the four PaluWise demo sites.
Bare in mind that this is just a brief overview of PaluWise team in action! Our partners were also engaged in networking dinners and field visits. We were busy, but happy while exchanging experiences with peers!
The work continues…
Through strong partnerships with our teammates from PalusDemos and Paludi4All, and by keeping farmers and local data at the centre of our work, we’re proud to be part of the solution and work towards transition to rewetted, productive peatlands.
CLICK HERE to watch the 60s VIDEO RECAP on YouTube 
Until next time! 
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.