 Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening, distinguished guests, partners, and Pitland enthusiasts. My name is Serbabel Cancino, and it is a pleasure to welcome you from all over the world to this important fourth meeting of the partners of the Global Pitlands Initiative, and gathering to recognize Pitlands as a great nature-based solution that can help countries address the triple threat of nature, climate, and pollution crisis. Today, we are joined by four Pitland-rich tropical countries that are partners in the Global Pitlands Initiative, an effort to save Pitlands as the largest terrestrial organic carbon stock and to prevent it from being emitted into the atmosphere. Welcome Peru, Republic of Congo, Indonesia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. This event represents a remarkable moment for South-South collaboration towards conservation, restoration, and sustainable management of tropical Pitlands. The Global Pitlands Initiative, led by the UN Environment Program, is a collaborative effort made up of 43 partners. The GPI seeks to develop and adopt new approaches for the conservation, restoration, and sustainable management of Pitlands, linking science to practice and policymaking. Last year, the fourth meeting of the GPI partners had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and although this year an alternative virtual meeting had to be organized, we are pleased to have brought all of you together. This high-level ministerial exchange represents an important opportunity for South-South and triangular collaboration, helping to strengthen knowledge and experience sharing, and the collection of innovation's best practice. Today, we are pleased to be invited to discuss the importance of Pitlands by our honorable host, His Excellency Gabriel Guillendria, Minister of the Environmental Peru, a recognized expert in environmental and natural resource management issues with extensive experience in different institutions promoting development in the Latin American region. In addition, he has extensive experience in environmental policy and management issues, sustainable development financing, biodiversity conservation, and climate change. In the field of research of his competence, he has developed studies oriented to policy design and training and teaching activities, both at the university level and for decision-makers in the public and private sectors. He holds a master's degree in natural resources management from Incai Business School in Costa Rica and a bachelor's degree in sociology from the University of the Republic in Uruguay. He has held positions as co-chair of the Green Climate Fund, representative in Peru of the Nature Conservancy, and head of the Technical Department of Profonampe. He has held the position of Vice Minister of Strategic Development of Natural Resources at the Ministry of the Environment of Peru on two occasions, between December 2011 and 2016, and again between March 2019 and November 2020. He is currently the Minister of the Environment of Peru, and once again I welcome everyone. It is my honor to hand over to His Excellency Gabriel Quijandriya, Minister of the Environment of Peru, for his opening remarks. Go ahead, Mr. Quijandriya. Thank you very much, Sir Babel. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, everyone. I would like to greet Mr. City Uruguay, especially the Minister of Indonesia, the Vice Minister of the Minister of Sustainable Development of the Republic of Congo, Mr. Arlet Dan, Minister of the Environment and Sustainable Development of the Republic of Congo, two representatives from the United Nations for the environment, and for, and welcome the representatives from C4, as well as all our guests. To me it's an honor on behalf of the Peruvian government to welcome you all to this high level dialogue in the framework of the fourth meeting of the members of the Global Pitlands Initiative. As Sir Babel mentioned, we are doing these virtually because of the pandemic. It's a shame that it was impossible to organize these in Madrid as we discuss this with Marina. We had the possibility to do it in Iquitos, unfortunately we weren't able to do so, but I believe that we will be able to do so some other time, face to face. As I mentioned, it's an honor to host these high level discussions, recognizing the importance of these type of ecosystems, one of the benefits that it creates in terms of several items from the environmental agenda in the Peruvian case. We are a country in which we have a very important extension of pitlands, which surround the more than 50,000 meters square approximately, and these pitlands represent or have a good representation in terms of the amount of carbon stocks that is in the biomass throughout the country. We calculate these 3% around 50% of all the carbon that we have stored in the biomass of the country, which gives us an idea of the importance of its conservation, its sustainable management and its recovery as well as strategies to deploy the capacity of this type of ecosystems to generate benefits for local populations, but also for the global community. Pitlands also are also important in terms of culture in the Peruvian case, they are linked for example in the case of our pitlands, or wetlands that have pits in our highlands, have a lot of tradition in terms of water management and the creation of a life linked to livestock, for example, in this type of wetlands, which are called bofidelis. In the case of our tectonic pitlands, they are relevant. I was saying that our Amazon pitlands are very relevant because they provide water resources and they also allow the existence of fishing resources, for example, which are very, very important in terms of the livelihood of these communities. In that sense, we have made a series of measures that I'm going to mention in my next presentation. And just to finish up, first of all, I would like to apologize for the informal look I have. I'm not as elegant as her babel is because I'm about to take a flight, to take a plane, and that's why I'm dressed as I am. But once again, I would like to thank the opportunity that was given to Peru to host these discussions. I would like to clearly express our availability, the availability of our country and the Ministry of the Environment, who is representing Peru in this event. So we can learn from this discussion and to advance in terms of our involvement in the Global Pitlands Initiative and our intention to be part of the Pitland Global Center in order to take advantage of all the progress that is being made in terms of knowledge and the possibility to implement specific measures in these relevant ecosystems that are being discussed around the world. Thank you very much and welcome everyone. Thank you very much for your clarifying comments. It's an honor to learn that Peru is committed to sustainable development and management of its tropical pitlands. Now I would like to invite our moderator to express the important role of pitlands as a nature-based solution. Welcome, Doreen Robinson. Doreen is an ecologist from conservation with more than 25 years of experience before she was the chief, the head of the biodiversity, sorry, during Robinson, head of the biodiversity and land branch in the ecosystem division at the UN environment program during its conservation ecologists by training with over 25 years of experience. Previously, she was the chief for the wildlife unit at UNEP. Prior to that, she served as the original chief for environment with the United States Agency for International Development in South Africa, leading programs on transboundary ecosystem management, combating wildlife crime, water supply and sanitation and water resource management in 14 countries. Doreen also worked for the United States Agency for International Development in Madagascar directing programs in biodiversity, agriculture, rural development and disaster management in Washington DC. She led policy and program development for global biodiversity conservation, promoting collaborative solutions, good governance and participatory approaches to protected conservation natural resource management and benefits sharing with local communities. She has also worked for the World Wildlife Fund and other environmental organizations spanning a range of locations, including the Amazon, Atlantic rainforests of South America, the Alps in Europe, the coral triangle in Asia, and the Congo basin during the Flores years. Thank you, Zora Babo, for your kind introduction and I would really like to appreciate his excellency for walking on us here today and for your dedication and contributions to the Global Peatlands Initiative. UNEP is honored to be able to co-host this important ministerial dialogue together with you. We deeply appreciate your leadership and the spirit of collaboration of your excellent team and the contributions of our distinguished GPI country partners and their capable team. And lastly, we appreciate the collaboration of the International Peatland Center team and of course the kind support of C4. As the minister has rightly said, peatlands have huge importance and they have a strong potential as a nature-based solution for solving sustainable development challenges. Intact peatlands are critical in addressing climate change and biodiversity issues. Nature-based solutions are, by definition, actions to protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural or modified ecosystems that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively while simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits. The goal of these solutions is to support the achievement of society's development goals and safeguard human well-being in ways that reflect cultural and societal values and also to enhance the resilience of ecosystems, their capacity for renewal and the provision of services. Nature-based solutions are designed to address major societal challenges such as food security, climate change, water security, human health, disaster risk, and social and economic development more generally. We know that peatlands are found all over the world in close to 170 countries. They cover less than 3% of the planet's land surface but store approximately 30%, a third of all land-based carbon, twice the amount in all of the world's forests combined. The amount of carbon stored within one hectare of a healthy peatland is equivalent to an annual mission of 1,400 passenger cars. Peatlands offer a triple win for climate, nature, and people. They're the most carbon-dense terrestrial ecosystem on the earth. They host an exceptional range of unique biodiversity and have supported human health and well-being for thousands of years. Peatlands are a great nature-based solution not only because they store massive amounts of carbon but also because peatlands play a critical role in delivering a host of other ecosystem services that provide well-being and benefits such as hydrological cycling, hosting biodiversity including important pollinators, and preventing flooding, land loss, and subsistence. Peatlands occur in most biomes often storing ancient carbon accumulated and stored over millennia. Considered irrecoverable carbon because if it is degraded or disturbed it cannot be replaced or recovered within our lifetime. UNET recently published the state of finance for nature report which assesses how much public and private investment is being directed toward the nature-based solution and provides insights into the extent to which governments, businesses, and financiers are walking the talk of green development. The findings are clear. We are not investing nearly enough in nature. Investments in nature-based solutions will have to triple by 2030 and increase fourfold by 2050 if we are to have a chance at solving the planetary emergency, the triple crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. One recommendation asks to galvanize political and business momentum to protect and restore our earth, stressing that any strategy that aims to repair our relationship with nature and to harness the potential of nature-based solutions would need to strongly feature protection and conservation measures for high carbon value ecosystems like peatlands, mangroves, and primary forests as a central pillar. I'm excited to hear how you as the Global Peatlands Initiative partner countries of Indonesia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, and of course Peru with your immense tropical peatlands are doing just that. Back to you, Doreen, you have finished. Yes, Doreen. Back to you to introduce the other panelists. Sorry, I had a problem with Zoom. Okay. Very good. Thank you very much, Doreen, for sharing the context and importance of peatlands and the important role that these have in leading the Global Peatlands Initiative. Today, we're also honored to be joined by three more leaders who are forging a pathway for the conservation restoration and sustainable management of peatlands of the tropics. Your Excellencies, welcome. It is my honor to introduce these distinguished leaders. Please join me in welcoming her Excellency, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Environment and Sustainable Development of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Yves Passaiba Masoudi, Lawyer by Training, Secretary-General of the Congolese Liberation Movement for several years, National Deputy for several Legislatures, including the current one, member of the International Union of Lawyers and International Consultant in Human Rights Negotiation and Peaceful Conflict Resolution, President of the Congolese Women's League for Elections. Yves Passaiba Masoudi is currently Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Environment and Sustainable Development in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Welcome, Your Excellency. I also have the privilege to introduce her Excellency, Arlette Sudan Nanou, Minister of Environment, Sustainable Development and the Congo basin from the Republic of Congo. Prior to her appointment in this new role in May this year, she was the Minister of Tourism and Environment from 2016. Her Excellency, Sudan Nanou, a journalist by training, grew up and studied in Moscow and Paris and worked as an anchor, producer and columnist before joining the Republic of Congo's presidency as a press at the Shea. After working as a consultant in private communication in 2005, she founded the Saint Francis of SS Institute, a boarding school on the outskirts of Brazzaville, a member of the political bureau of the Congolese Labor Party. Her Excellency was made Knight of the Order of Congolese Marriage in 2010. Welcome, Your Excellency. Finally, we are joined by her Excellency, City of Nurbaya, Minister of the Environment and Forestry of Indonesia. Her Excellency Nurbaya obtained her PhD in Environmental Science in 1998 from a joint program between Bogor Agricultural University and Sagan University, Germany. She began her career as a government officer at Lampung Provincial Government in 1981 and a few years later was appointed as a Deputy Head of Provincial Development Planning Agency. In 1998, she was transferred to Jakarta, assigned as the Director of Planning Bureau in the Ministry of Home Affairs. And in 2001, she was promoted as the Secretary General of the Ministry. Her career then continued as Secretary General of the Regional Representative Council of the Republic of Indonesia for the period 2006-2013. She was also the first Secretary General of the Council in October 2014. President Jokowi appointed her to join the government cabinet to serve as a Minister for Environment and Forestry, a consolidated portfolio from the two previously Ministry of Forestry and Ministry of Environment, housing more than 16,000 national civil servants. For the second period of the Jokowi presidency, she was again entrusted to serve as a Minister for Environment and Forestry in October 2019. The ministry also serves as a focal point for climate change, biodiversity and other environmental issues. City of Nurembaya has been active in domestic and international fora that make her frequently invited to address a wide spectrum of subjects such as environmental and natural resource management, decentralization, bureaucracy, politics, democracy, parliament, political economy, women empowerment, geoscience, and geographic information systems. Welcome, Your Excellency Jereen, with pleasure. The floor is yours once again. Go ahead, please. Thank you. It's a real honor to moderate this outstanding panel. So let's get started. First, I'd like to start with Peru, of course. Minister Kihantria, I'd like to invite you to give us an intervention on how Petlands, as an important nature-based solution, are able to advance multiple multi-lateral environmental agreement objectives and our real opportunity to raise a country's nature and climate ambition. Minister. Thank you, Doreen. These are very important initiatives because we're talking about carbon stock and have a lot of benefits that they create for differing policies and other ecosystem services and also the livelihoods of human beings. It's in the middle of different agendas that at a global level are usually handled separately. We have different agendas, climate change and the economy, but this is an ecosystem that allows us to actually realize that this logic that is behind what we're talking about today, nature-based solution, needs to be seen in a holistic approach that connects different attributes of the environment and also connect with different development goals and creation of human well-being. The role of these ecosystems is important for the benefits, for nature contributions as well. From Peru, we have recognized this with a recent regulation. I was reading a question from a colleague from Argentina in the chat that Petlands are not that well known and why is that? I believe that this is related maybe to this pessimistic view about wetlands. We talk about swamps. We usually talk about swamps and we have a negative view, but once we study them, then we realize the benefits that we have from these ecosystems. The regulation that we have recently approved, we have recognized Petlands for the first time in Peru legislation with its own name. It's very important because we have recognized importance to map these Petlands because we know that in Peru we have a lot of hectares that I mentioned at the beginning, but we are not that clear on where they are located. Just to end, we are making some efforts to recover Petlands that have been degraded. We have a project that started with different mechanisms per ecosystem services with a water supplier for the city of Lima where we recover Andean Petlands that have been degraded because they were using PETA substrate for the production of orchids. We are recovering them so that we have better quality water. These replace the infrastructure. This does not replace the structure that we had, but we are combining different efforts that can improve the life and the channel of what we have today. Thank you very much for the opportunity. Thank you, Minister, for that. And thank you for your non-pessimistic view of Petlands and the commitments of leadership from Peru. A UNEP report published in 2019 warned that unless greenhouse gas emissions fall by 7.6% each year between 2020 and 2030, the world will miss the opportunity to get on track towards the 1.5 degrees temperature goal of the Paris Agreement. And crucially, all nations must substantially increase ambition in their nationally determined commitment. So it's fantastic to see Peru leading the way and working so hard to raise your ambition with the inclusion of Petlands in your NDC, but also the important recovery work that you're investing in for the future. So we're going to turn next to Indonesia. And I would very much like to welcome the Minister of Situ Nubia, Minister of Environment and Forestry in Indonesia to share with us how Petlands are advancing in your own country, multiple ambitions and goals under multilateral environment agreements, but also how they have enabled Indonesia to raise their own country's ambition for achieving sustainable development. Minister? Thank you, Dorin. Thank you. Excellency Minister of Environment Republic of Peru, Excellencies Minister from Democratic Republic of Congo, and Excellency Minister of Sustainable Development, my friend Arlet Sodando Naut. Good evening, Dainan Global Petland Coordinators, Honorable Speakers and Moderators, distinguished participants. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening to all of you. First of all, I'd like to extend my gratitude and appreciation for the hard work and dedication provided by the Ministry of Environment of Peru and the United Nations Environment in hosting this online high-level Petland event. It is my great honor to have this opportunity to address this very important event with the theme of Petlands, a supernatural-based solution, and to share Indonesia's best practices, lessons, learn, and experiences in managing tropical Petland achieve our national development while contributing to the advancement of the multilateral environmental agreement. Excellencies, distinguished participants in Indonesian Petland are the fourth largest in the world, comprising about 36 percent of the world's tropical Petland. They hold a large pool of carbon storing, about 30 to 40 percent of global soil carbon deposits, making them one of the world's largest carbon storage and contributing to global climate change, mitigation, and adaptation. Working on Petland is an uneasy task. It requires many aspects, technical, economy, and social justice. Strong efforts to restore Petland done by many line ministries, including our Petland Restoration Agency since 2016. We continue to seek effective ways to prevent Petland from burning, either through rewetting refrigeration and revitalization of livelihood. Actually, restoration efforts only are not enough. When Petlands are neglected and no one manages them, they remind vulnerable to fire during the dry season. During a very long dry seasons, these abandoned Petlands remind dry, even after rewetting activities have been carried out. They are also prone to fire because human access to the location is not controlled due to the absence of the land managers. For such an area, integrated policies and steps are taken. The government is continuously pursuing the best way to manage Petland on many aspects, including institutional, technical know-how, community basis, scientific approach, and paying attention to sustainable water management and relying on local community resources and local community wisdoms. Through the sustainable use of Petland, in accordance with their debt, proper water management and the utilization of local resources and local wisdom, it is expected that Petland will be maintained, be prevented from burning, and be able to support the national development. Excellencies and distinguished participants, Indonesia has strong commitment to the protection and sustainable management of Petland ecosystem to protect and sustainably manage the Petland ecosystem. A national Petland problem emerged in 1996. This is a starting point of our long story in managing Petland from one administrative government to another since President Suharto era to our time now. Our experiences show that first Petland can be managed well to some extent for people prosperity, but at some part of Petland landscape must be protected. The Petdom must be absolutely protected. The third one, the degraded Petland can be recovered by making them wet and controlling the hydrological techniques supported by technical know-how such as the use of LiDAR, the use of dashi method on Petland water balance, controlling porous fire, maintaining water management at farm level, etc. And the last one, community participation and engagement is essential and need to be supported by public awareness and law enforcement efforts. We do implement integrated policies and regulations under collaborative work of line ministries related to the Petland. The combined task cover, spatial planning, construction, operation and maintenance, water management at farm level, agricultural practices, paralegal environmental protection purposes, etc. We started with the hydrological Petland unit approach and classifying the Petland function into conservation and cultivation functions. His Excellency President Yoko Widodo established a specific unit called Petland Restoration Agency in 2016. Simultaneously to those, we work hard including in law enforcement. We also work very hard conducting patrols and wire suppression, operation in the particular provinces. In order to preserve Petland's witness throughout the year, the government regulation of Blake's Petland managers to maintain 0.4 meters of water table hay. Hydrological measures that have been implemented to fulfill his obligation are including the construction of appropriate canal networks, canal blockings, water ponds, artesian wells, as well as conducting weather modification through cloud seeding so that local rainfall pattern might be arranged to drop on Petland. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we confirmed for practicing the prevention agenda as directed by President Yoko Widodo since 2017 and we do practice for forest fire prevention until the permanent implementation compressing steps on hot sports monitoring, weather modification and cloud seeding, patrols, public awareness rising, community livelihood improvement, paralegal and law enforcement. It is confirmed that currently about 280 concentration holders in 224 Petland hydrological units are implementing the government regulation requirement with impact on Petland restoration area at about 3.47 million hectares. The restoration activities are supported by the development of rewetting infrastructures, including development of 10,690 units of water table compliance point, 1,121 data loggers for real-time water table monitoring, 792 units of rainfall monitoring station and the construction of 27,889 canal blocking units with or without spilling. Excellencies and distinguished participants. We have many communities actually living within and surrounding Petlands and they may be exposed to via risk. At the same time, they can also benefit from the Petland. Hence, in implementing Petland Protection Management in community areas, government has developed community-based Petland Management Program to empower community to actively participate and improve community livelihood in line with the implementation of sustainable Petland Management. There is actually an urgency to do rewetting for Petland to prevent wires and improve livelihood security. The challenge is how to do rewet areas of Petland as quickly as possible. We cannot flood or drain Petland and abandon them, we will only be able to solve the drainage problem while maintaining production such as through Palludi culture, wet agriculture system and through agroforestry. The purpose of demonstration farm and Palludi culture demonstration activities are to teach local people how to use Petland without burning. If the Petland is allowed to be utilized, the local community will protect it from land wires. In an effort to further assist the communities in implementing restoration and sustainable Petland Management in their area, ministries and agencies work together with universities and local government and engage with hundreds of facilitators. This collaboration effort is crucial since Petland utilization requires close supervision and intensive assistances, considering that even though damaged Petland may still be restored, however, the Petland must always be maintained and protected. Excellencies and distinguished participants as of mid 2020, we improve community fire awareness group. It is strengthening communities through the program of legal awareness known as paralegal. This program aims to strengthen law enforcement at community level and empower communities of their areas from a possibly fire spot as well as illegal logging. The program begins by providing training related to forest and land wire control, laws and regulation pertaining to the use of fire and the potential of diversification and economic enterprises according to the particular resources of each village. Group are then empowered to perform integrated patrol with ground tracks hotspots, collect data on peak water level and perform early suppression of forest and land wire. Another example of our success story in pit restoration by using LiDAR technology for pit dome identification as well as a sophisticated method to improve to improve peak water balance. We have succeeded in restoring 40,000 hectares of pitland that have been damaged hard since 1996, which caused massifiers in 1997 and 2015. It is confirming that technology is one of the important support in dealing with pitlands. Excellencies and distinguished participants in Indonesia put pitlands management as part of the national strategies for years, including in our NDC, the nationally determined contribution. In our first NDC forestry sector, including pitland is expected to be the backbone of our efforts in achieving our greenhouse gases emissions reduction target by 41% in 2030 compared to the business as usual scenario. Through red plus program, forest fire prevention and control, as well as pitland and mangrove management, the forestry sector is projected to be the largest contributor of the national emission reduction target. We are now in the preparation for achieving carbon-nitral with the initial figures of 2060 carbon-nitral or SUNET are under the conditional mitigation scenario and intensive adaptation, as well as we are preparing for the carbon nitral by 2030 in forestry sector. Since we have long experiences articulating combined policies on forestry and environment, such as forest land management, landscape fire control, devastation control, burratorium, and eventually come to permanent prohibition of youth permits in pitland and primary forest areas for 66 million hectares, pale deculture practices, community engagement, and of course, law enforcement. We consider our carbon-nitral target is realistic as we can learn from the 2019 condition that total emission from forest was 925 million ton CO2 equivalent and from energy was 942 million ton equivalent. Emission from pitfire was recorded for 156 million tons, but figure in 2020 showed that the recorded emission from pitfire was only 31 million ton CO2 equivalent compared to 400 in a year before. That is, was verified through forest reverence emission level. Despite the annual rainfall and weather condition in 2020, we established preventing efforts by first improving the hotspot monitoring system, controlling the pitland management through of course, hydrological method, conducting closed-seeding patrols and developing paralegal for community awareness and law enforcement to the concessions. Indonesia's success in reducing emission has gained approval for a funding proposal from the Green Climate Fund which outlined the result of Indonesia's threat plus performance for the 2426 period with a reduction of around 20.3 million tons of CO2 equivalent which is equal to more than 103 US dollars. Further, the success of Indonesia in reducing emission for its threat plus performance by around 17 million tons of CO2 equivalent in 2016-2017 has also been approved by Norway through result-based payment mechanism. This achievement will rise public confidence about the seriousness of our government in implementing its commitment to protecting forests. Excellencies and distinguished participants in recognizing the importance of pitland at global, regional and national in addressing climate change, protecting biodiversity, environment and contributing to the social economic welfare of people with a strong support from UN environment, government of Indonesia together with the government of the Republic of Congo and Republic of Congo have established the International Tropical Pitland Center ITTC declared in Jakarta on 30 October 2018. The center is built on the principle of true cross sector collaboration and integration, social collaboration in building a resilient and holistic platform for science, policy and practice and attracting the best mind working on research and practice in this field. The establishment of ITTC was the next step after the historic 2018 Bresaville Declaration signed on March 22, 2018 by the three government to promote better management and conservation of the world's largest tropical pitland, the Garford Central Region in the Congo Basin and to undertake other pitland initiatives. I do thank you very much for the cornerstone on pitland platform in the world. I also do thank you to UN environment for supporting the ITTC in continuing efforts on pitland management worldwide. Thus, I'm delighted the Republic of Peru is now officially part of our ITTC family and hope that Peru's contribution will strengthen ITTC activities to achieve our shared goals in making world tropical pitland sustainable. Excellencies and distinguished participants, during the United Nations Environment Assembly, UNEA at its fourth session in Nairobi 2019, Indonesia and supported by other member states and relevant stakeholders has successfully convinced the Assembly to agree to a resolution on pitland entitled conservation and sustainable management of pitland. This resolution also shows Indonesia's commitment to collaborate with UN environment member states and other stakeholders to provide greater emphasis to the conservation, sustainable management and restoration of pitland worldwide in support of the sustainable practice of the pitland management. The global pitland initiative through the ITTC may play a significant role in following up resolution through capacity building as well as through identifying synergies and related collaborative actions in managing pitland ecosystem in a sustainable manner and safeguarding pitland ecosystem services that evolve from the interest of relevant international organizations, member states and other stakeholders. All in all, I want to emphasize that pitland can still provide promising resources if we utilize it with environmentally sound approach. I thank you for your kind attention and wish this event will be able to strengthen our collaboration even in this difficult situation due to the pandemic. Once again, I thank you. Thank you so much, Minister, for highlighting Indonesia's ambitious and complex programming commitments for conserving and restoring pitlands but also for your commitment to partnership and collaboration. It's well appreciated. I'd also like to thank you for highlighting how hard and complex and challenging it can be to protect pitlands. I don't think we can underestimate that but the points you made about including community and inclusive approach, the approach for appreciating indigenous knowledge and what it can contribute to conservation of pitlands but also the real importance of science and evidence based both to drive the technical work but also to inform appropriate policy and regulation around pitlands and really the need to take a holistic land management approach that looks at water, fire management, forest management and the whole complexity of ecosystem services as well as the social services and the social and cultural aspects that are involved if we're truly going to have the kind of successful programs we want. So thank you so much for that. I think next we will turn to the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has been working very hard on the development of a national strategy for the conservation and valuation of pitlands. I believe we're having some problems with connectivity of the minister but we have the counselor in charge of pitlands and forests who will tell us more about that program if I understand the change correctly. So the floor is over to you. First I would like to apologize from the... I would like to send my apologies by the minister because she is not able to participate today. I am honored to be here with you today. I would like to greet and welcome everyone of you, ministers of the environment from the Republic of Peru and Indonesia. Director of the UNEP, ministers and everyone. First I would like to thank you everyone and the government of Peru for having us here today and also ITPC. We are having webinars in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to recover pitlands in the fight against climate change so that we can value pitlands as a nature-based solution. We believe that the best way to react on this topic would be to show that countries are working on a solution that are based on nature and pitlands are important for this. I'm going to talk about the different challenges at an economic level. First of all, in order to promote nature-based solutions and as a response to the framework, regulation framework from the United Nations, there are different countries that have been working with nature-based solutions, implementing different international agreements and this is what we are doing in our country. We are using 13 percent for natural reserves, natural parks. This of course is an important progress to protect these areas. There is a project of one billion trees that is a project from the president, the presidency itself and is a nature-based solution centered around the management greenhouse gases in our country. We are trying to protect the pitlands and we are protecting our forest, our 15 million hectares. I'm giving you this example because when we are seeing the participation of our countries in the fight against climate change, we are noticing that the nature-based solutions are already being considered by our countries and this is part of a super nature-based solution. There are different countries that are working on conservation, for example Peru, the Republic of the Congo, Indonesia are an example of what can happen. We can get ecosystem services for human well-being because of their carbon stock capacity. Pitlands are important for our ambitions as members, a part of one family that is the global pitlands initiatives. That's why we need to include pitlands in our policies regarding mitigations. My country is working on a regulation that includes pitlands specifically. We have some preliminary results, the definition and from that we have that the definition for pitlands is going to include, it's going to be included in a legal framework to identify pitlands so that we can launch preliminary stages to define, to first define pitlands themselves. This national framework defining pitlands as a nature-based solution are a challenge. We need to develop our knowledge about pitlands, we need to map them so that we can access the real carbon stock in the whole pit. They are all pit, it's very particular in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The access is very difficult. They are an area of production and livelihood for indigenous peoples and local communities. This of course tells us that we need to redefine the value of pitlands if the governments want to keep pitlands as a super nature-based solutions. We need to know their value, we need to know their natural value but also their economic value. That's why the economic agreement regarding pitlands is very important and we shall not sacrifice pitlands. They need to be assessed and revaluated in an economic approach. In this revalorization is to include economic challenges in order to renew livelihoods of local communities and indigenous peoples. Conservation needs to be aligned with this approach. Of course because they need to be aligned with natural resources need to be aligned with economy as well. These are the challenges that we are concerned about and we hope that we have answered the question. I'm representing the prime minister here. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. As you rightly said, knowing where pitlands are and how they are changing this key to taking action with local communities and stakeholders towards the conservation and sustainable development and sustainable management of those pitlands. The importance of valuation and what you are doing can't be understated. We appreciate the work that the country is doing including to improve the mapping of those pitlands in the Kuwait Central and also estimating the carbon stock. This knowledge will help not only your country but the global community to establish the state of pitlands through an upcoming global pitlands assessment which UNEP is putting together with other partners. It shows why it is so crucial to continue the research but also to connect and collaborate between all sectors and all disciplines. Not only do we need this intersexual interdisciplinary collaboration but we need countries that are facing similar challenges, similar biomes and common threats to connect and share their knowledge and experience with each other. That's exactly what you've been doing with the other people in the country. Thank you for sharing that experience. I do believe that we have a bit of a delay with the minister from the Republic of Congo. I have the pleasure to introduce our partner from the International Tropical Peatland Center, Dr. Eggis. Sorry, August Justianza. And sorry, I'm going to speak slower for the translator. The doctor has dedicated his working experience as a professional and government employee of the Ministry of Forestry of the Republic of Indonesia since 1986. Currently, he is the Director General of Sustainable Forest Management and also Acting Director General of Environment and Forestry Standardization and Instruments Agency since July 2021. Following an appointment as Director General of Research Development and Innovation Agency, he's been the Senior Advisor to the Ministry for Natural Resources Economic with the Ministry of Environment and Forestry. Dr. Justianto completed his undergraduate studies in forestry at Bogar Agricultural University in 1986, returning to earn a PhD in agricultural economics in 2005. In between, he earned a Masters of Natural Resources at the University of New England in Australia in 1992. He's actively involved in various fora on environmental and forestry issues, including international negotiations and meetings, and currently holds a position as Secretary of the Advisory Committee on Climate Change in Indonesia. He was Chairman of the Indonesian National Forestry Council 2011-2016. In addition to past membership on various forestry working groups, he was the Indonesian focal point for the Forest Investment Program and member of the Steering Committee of the International Resource Paddle, UN Environment, as well as Chairman of two ASEAN Mechanisms for Senior Officials, Forestry and the Environment. So the floor is yours. Thank you. Thank you very much. Excellency Minister of Environmental Forestry, Republic of Indonesia, Dr. Siti Nurbaya. Excellency Minister of Environment, Peru, Dr. Gabriel Cuyandra. Excellency Vice Prime Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Democratic Republic of Congo, or Representative, UN Environment Representative, Honorable Speakers and Moderators and Distinguished Participants. Very good morning, good afternoon, and good evening to all of you. First of all, I would like to extend my gratitude and appreciation to the Ministry of Environment of Peru and the United Nations Environment Program in hosting this online high-level pitland event. It is my great honor to have this opportunity to share the International Tropical Pitland Center, the objective and progress. Excellencies, distinguished participants. The establishment of ITPC was initiated during the third Global Pitland Initiative, meeting in Bresovil on 23rd March 2018, where the three governments of the Republic of Indonesia, the Republic of Congo, and the Democratic Republic of Congo signed the Bresovil Declaration to protect pitlands in the tropics, including the Congo Basin to build the ITPC and to improve the capacity of global pitland initiative partners and countries on pitland management. The next step was the ITPC declaration in Jakarta on October 2018 and continued with the several events conducted to strengthen the ITPC establishment, including a high-level panel of the Global Landscapes Forum to announce this new initiative and commitment, establishment of the interim secretariat and recognition of the ITPC at the UNIA for Resolution on Conservation and Sustainable Management of Pitlands. ITPC was launched in Jakarta on 30 October 2018, where the government of Indonesia with the Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, announced a collaboration to form the ITPC. A joint declaration by three participating governments acknowledging the important role of pitlands at global, regional, and national levels in addressing climate change, protecting biodiversity and the environment, and contributing to the social, economic welfare of people, recognizing the need to increase respective capacity through collaboration to promote best practices for conservation and sustainable management of pitlands, committing to common interests in tropical pitlands and ongoing efforts by governments and partners to conserve and manage them in a sustainable manner, committing to strengthening networking and collaboration. The main objective of ITPC is to ensure that policy makers, practitioners, and communities can access sound, credible, and legitimate information, analysis, and all other tools needed to design and implement conservation and sustainable management of tropical pitlands. Recognizing the importance of short-sort exchange, the ITPC will serve as a go-to space for short-sort cooperation, which will support the dissemination of strategies and practices for tropical pitland management through coordinating and supporting collaborative international relationships and connecting different city holders. To conduct and disseminate scientific research on tropical pitland management for sustainable development, become a center of excellence for tropical pitland research to support policy development and to provide capacity-building and technical services. As a follow-up of the ITPC establishment, the government of Indonesia established ITPC Interim Secretariat, coordinated by the Ministry of Environmental Forestry and assisted by the Center for International Forestry Research, or CIFOR. The Secretariat is based on Indonesia located at CIFOR campus and for the campus. Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies, and gentlemen. Since its declaration in October 2018, ITPC has done a lot of works, such as hosting and participating in many international forums, taking part in global initiatives, collaboration with regional and private partners, knowledge exchange and scientific cooperation, as well as promotion through website and social media. Since its launch, ITPC hosted and participated in many international forums in its effort to promote conservation and sustainable management of tropical pitlands. This includes collaboration with CIFOR to host plenary discussions at the Global Landscape Forums in 2019 and 2020, exploring the synergy among broader partners and countries for more effective cooperation to tackle challenges around pitlands conservation and restoration. During the COP 25 UNFCCC in December 2019, the role of pitlands to tackle climate change has been again promoted by ITPC and partners at the Indonesian Parvillian. Other forums for promotion include UN414R, UNClimate Week, Asia-Pacific Forestry Week, etc. Various knowledge sharing and exchange have also been organized by ITPC in collaboration with other partners, that is CIFOR, UNEnvironment, FL, and so on. One of the examples of its international pitlands work in workshop in Bogor on July 2019 on enhancing evidence-based policy by developing common outcomes and collaboration for pitland research and monitoring. The workshop brought together more than 35 international and local tropical pitland experts to contribute to the conservation, restoration, and sustainable management of pitlands to improve interdisciplinary research. Another work of ITPC is energizing knowledge and experiences from tropical pitlands. As we know that knowledge on tropical pitlands has been widely available and is increasing rapidly in recent years. Data and experience in pitland management is also spread everywhere. Thus, a synergy is needed to provide right recommendations for policy decisions. Therefore, the need to gather available information and develop further capacity to improve science-based actions not only in Indonesia, but also in other tropical pitland countries. All of this will be useful for input for the development of ITPC knowledge data portal. In terms of conducting knowledge exchange, we have actually been preparing the field visit and knowledge sharing for the technical officials of the ITPC countries into test 2020. However, these trips will cancel due to the pandemic. Currently, ITPC with strong support from CIVOR is building a common knowledge system as a platform for learning and exchanging information and strengthening knowledge capacity on tropical pitlands. We also improved the website providing additional function and the future. The new feature will include expect directory list that can be used as a media for researchers to communicate and exchange knowledge and information and meet pitland experts. There are some ongoing activities and proposed activities that need to be supported. This includes ITPC to serve as a repository of pitland projects in tropical pitland countries, coordinated research and capacity development and so on. Before I conclude my presentation, I would like to thanks to all partners that have been working together ongoing or in the past. I wish within the umbrella of ITPC we could provide a better understanding of synergize that derived from coordinated action on pitlands among stakeholders, identify major gaps and limitation for safeguarding pitlands, and identify suitable policies and action for implementation for conserving, sustainably managing and restoring pitlands that involve a multitude of actors. Last but not least, I would like to welcome other countries particularly with pitlands, international organization, private sector, universities, research institution, and all other relevant actors to contribute and join the ITPC. Thank you for your time and kind attention. Thank you so much for that and thank you for that welcome to new partnerships and all partnerships that can work together to contribute to pitlands conservation. We've been able to connect with the Honorable Minister of Environment Sustainable Development and the Congo Basin from the Republic of Congo happily, so I would like to turn the floor over to the minister to share with us a bit how South-South cooperation has benefited the conservation restoration sustainable management of tropical pitlands. Thank you. Minister, the floor is yours. It seems perhaps we have a bad connection. Zorro, I will turn it back to you. Thank you so much for the opportunity to moderate this session to date and I will leave it in your able hands to continue to take us forward. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much Doreen. I will continue. Wait a minute, please. Okay. Just for the information that you have shared with us, thank you Doreen for your moderation. Please, I welcome Mr. Jose Alvarez Alonso to the floor. He's in charge of biologic diversity in the Ministry of the Environment of Peru. He will share with us the commitments by Peru towards the global pitlands initiative for South-South collaboration that is critical for sustainable management of pitlands. He's a biologist, has different studies in philosophy and others and has specialized in management of natural resources and sustainable development of the Amazon region resources and also worked with a collaborative participative collaboration in the Amazon region. He has worked in this region for 29 years. Dr. Jose Alonso, you have the floor. Thank you very much. Thank you, sir. Thank you, minister, for being here today and being part of this dialogue. I would like to read the declaration by the Ministry of the Environment for Nature-based Solutions here in Peru. Being aware of the role of pitlands has an important nature-based solution at a global level, at a national level and regional level, as well facing climate change for conservation of biodiversity and facing different climate challenges, also knowing the importance of the impact on livelihoods of local communities and generous people who need to work on better practices and sustainable management of pitlands. We have a common interest on the conservation of the pitlands and we want to promote its sustainable use. We are, as the government committed, as well as scientific centers. We are aware of all the different agreements, for example, of the Paris Agreement and other initiatives related to pitlands, for example, the Brassable Declaration, the Global Pitlands Initiative and others. We are aware that public policy makers, private sector professionals and local communities need solid information and different tools that are necessary for the design and implementation of the management of pitlands. We create the general guidelines for the management of wetlands. We have already approved this in Peru. We are working towards its conservation, protection and also revalorization. We have seen the example of Indonesia and also accepted the invitation by the government to be part of the Global Pitlands Initiative. We would like to then recognize the following. We recognize the importance of Peru to be engaged with the Global Pitlands Initiative as an entity that has a main objective of ensuring that policy makers, professionals and communities have access to information exchange analysis and other valid tools that are important and necessary to design and implement actions towards conservation and sustainable management of tropical pitlands. It is also a space for South-South collaboration that supports information exchange as well as exchange of different practices towards the management of tropical pitlands. It includes different collaborations at an international level with different stakeholders. It has also the objective of disseminating local knowledge about tropical pitlands for sustainable development. It also seeks to become the focus of information exchange for policy makers. The Republic of Indonesia has invited Peru to work on the establishment of a document for the second part of 2021 to strengthen national entities and institutions. For example, the Research Institute for the Peruvian Amazon Region and also the Glacial and Highlands Nature Center to be part of this. Also to invite different entities from the private sector to be part of the ITPC and also thanking GPI in actions and activities promoting the sustainable development and revitalization of pitlands as nature-based solution to face climate change and other global challenges. That's what we are doing in Peru. Thank you very much. Thank you very much Jose for enabling this historic moment for all of us in this meeting. We all appreciate Peru's commitment and leadership to promote the conservation restoration and sustainable management of pitlands in order to come to fight climate change together with the other partner countries. Now we have the privilege of having Diana Kopansky, coordinator of the Global Pitlands Initiative from the UNEP to summarize the discussions of the distinguished ministers and the exchanges that have happened during this high-level segment of the fourth meeting of the partners of the Global Pitlands Initiative hosted by Ms. Kopansky is an expert in landscapes and biodiversity delivering a suite of partnerships and programs on ecosystem management and climate change. Diana has worked in Africa for the past 21 years on a range of issues within the emergency humanitarian and development fields for UNEP. She works globally and led teams to develop and implement projects such as the UN Red Program delivering as one UN and the MDGF. As part of UNEP's executive office she developed a UN system-wide strategies policies to strengthen the regional offices and enabled the inclusion of the environment pillar in the UN development system frameworks. She'll add the environmental portfolio for UN FAO's regional emergency office for Africa and provide a direct technical support to governments in over 40 countries to integrate environmental issues into national development plans and poverty reduction strategies for UNDP. Prior to moving to Africa Diana prepared a Canada state of environment and illness cost of air pollution reports. Diana, the floor is yours. Welcome. Go ahead please. Thank you so much Azorabel Babel. I just wanted to let you know that we have the Minister of Environment from the Republic of Congo who has now successfully connected so perhaps we can give the floor to the Minister from Environment and then I'm ready to go. Thank you so much. Of course. Minister you have the floor you are welcome please. Bonjour, bonjour, je suis une dame. Je vous prie déjà de m'excuser pour ce retard mais malheureusement j'ai eu des grandes contraintes pour tout vous dire on a eu un conseil. I apologize for being late. We just finished the ministry council and I had to participate so I apologize and thank you for letting me speak. Dear colleagues from the Ministry of the Environment of Peru, Prime Minister of the Environment of the Republic of Congo, Minister of the Environment of Indonesia, dear experts, dear guests, the importance of peatlands doesn't have to be demonstrated because it contributed to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and that's why the international community wishes to invest in the protection of sustainable management of these ecosystems which are so fragile according to the provisions from the Paris Agreement. So the temperature of the planet doesn't increase into degrees and degrees. According to the researchers from the Linx University and the results from the Brassville project peatlands from the Betel Lake and but Lake in the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo are the peatlands that have existed for more than 17,000 years which are the most representative ones in the world and they represent twice the size of Belgium so these numbers are impressive and they have 31,000 tons of carbon which is equivalent of 20 years of greenhouse effect gas emissions from the United States so these carbon stocks is a group of carbon which is in the 200,000,000 hectares now peatlands have 160 1650 meters squares with a 14% increase likewise carbon is stored in these peatlands and there is more than 21,000 and now some information that we have gathered in these research will be published in COP26 at Glasgow. Peatlands in the Congo basin are part of a particular ecosystem because they are full of flora and fauna species including endemic species, endangered species which only exist in the Congo basin however other researches have been done in order to improve the knowledge of biodiversity of the ecosystem these are important carbon stocks that represent a great interest for climate change mitigation and this is a must in order to achieve the peace related to the global objectives and the Paris Agreement as you know the Republic of Congo has organized in Braesville together with the Democratic Republic of Congo meeting on the global peatlands initiative oh as a result of that meeting the Republic of Congo Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of Congo signed the Braesville declaration for sustainable management of peatlands which summarizes in 11 items we had the honor to have my great friend Ministry of Environment Forests and Sustainable Development who came to visit us with a delegation of 50 people from Indonesia I would like to greet her now this declaration is a roadmap for the actions that need to be taken in the short, mid and long term in the framework of sustainable management of peatlands the search for funding or to develop ecosystems related ecosystems and sustainable development of the implicated area in 2018 when we did this work in Indonesia the Republic of Congo the Democratic Republic of Kondo and Indonesia signed in Bali an agreement for sustainable management peatlands sustainable management of peatlands here we should highlight the role of the bull funds because there was a change of action where peatlands are included the peatlands from the Congo basin there was a meeting in the framework of the COP meeting in Marrakesh and a financial instrument was presented there including the countries from the Congo basin this is one of the institutions from the African Union this initiative was approved by the presidents of Africa in these summits that was done in Marrakesh but also in Brazil in the presence of your majesty the king of Morocco and just to remind you of this fund its goal is to have funds in order to finance projects programs and investment plans to fight against climate change in order to mitigate adapt and reinforce capabilities and develop technologies thanks to the financing dedicated to climate public private associations the participation of civil society and local communities country members of these of these uh forum the members of these climate commission of the Congo basin plus Morocco thanks to these there was a series of studies and 254 projects were developed thanks to these including national contributions from the different countries as well as an investment plan that includes approximately a billion dollars so this is already ready we are just in the stage of procurement dear ministers dear experts mad ladies and gentlemen the message that i want to send just to finish is the following if we conserve or conserving peatlands and protecting them rich countries needed to respect the Paris agreement and this is essential for peatlands which keep on absorbing our carbon we need to make to take measures for conservation restoration and sustainable banishment of peatlands from the Congo basin and from everywhere in the world in order to protect biodiversity water and climate we hope Peru whose initiative we salute we congratulate we thank their initiative because it's a solution a nature-based solution and the democratic republic of Congo wants to join this government and sign these agreement protocol i'm talking um behalf of the climate commission of the Congo basin i'm the coordinator and that's why you see that my speech has a political technical cut Peru has great experience in tropical peatland management and experience exchange with these countries as well as with Indonesia constitutes an opportunity for the republic of Congo as well as the other countries from the Congo basin especially the democratic republic of Congo cooperation at a political and scientific level levels will allow us to fight against global warming thank you thanks to tropical peatland sustainable management so thank you once again for allowing me to speak today i would just like to remind you the urgency to preserve these ecosystems which are fragile because scientists tell has told us so in their last conclusions their final conclusions the these um the peatlands that are in the democratic republic of Congo are irrigated by the pluviametry of forest of trees so we needed to give local populations economic alternatives to live so thank you very much for your attention who's going to do a presentation thank you everyone and thank you so much for all the incredible interventions it's really an honor to be here with our distinguished ministers and our guests to catch up on the progress that each country is making toward the conservation restoration and sustainable management of peatlands with the ongoing covid pandemic i'm really grateful that we're all able to be here together virtually for this ministerial segment of the fourth global peatlands initiative partner meeting and on behalf of the united nations environment program i honestly have the honor to lead the global peatlands initiative it's been such pleasure i want to share with you a few of the achievements that we've shared together as well as some of the upcoming exciting work that we have planned success for the climate planet and people on a global scales requires global action and the global peatlands initiative has been working for results and impact built on experience and approaches from science to policy and innovation to financing four of our tropical peatland country partners that you've heard from and 43 international organizations have been really working hard to improve the conservation restoration and sustainable management of peatlands through facilitated south south and triangular collaboration and by forging new and innovative partnerships and taking joint action for scale and speed the gpi was launched at the unf triple c cop and medicash at the end 2016 and fully came to life when indonesia co-hosted the meeting of the global peatlands initiative partners in may 2017 this brought together indonesia the republic of congo d r congo and peru governments with global and national and local experts and stakeholders including youth to commit to the work of peatlands together it culminated with the dedicated global peatlands landscape forum and called peatlands matter with more than 500 people coming together to elevate peatlands to the global agenda the event drew on experiences indonesia and across the world and really they helped us set the level of ambition for the global peatlands initiative commitment and leadership in march 2018 we were in the republic of congo when d r congo and republic of congo jointly hosted the third meeting of the partners of the gpi we interacted with local communities scientists and experts and learned from each other and the indonesian minister shared her experience and efforts that the country was making to cope with climate change as well as managing peatlands and her excellency appealed to the congo these ministers and the republic of congo prime minister to really learn from indonesia's developmental challenges and peatlands management experience and this culminated in the brazzaville declaration as a further step we were in indonesia in 2018 for a high level south south exchange and we spent a working week together to deepen this sharing of knowledge and management we learned about fire management we learned about community forestry practices and we also joined hands to establish the international tropical peatlands center further deepening their commitment the ministers of the republican congo and indonesia both signed a memorandum of understanding to continue this south south peatlands knowledge exchange and the south south and triangular collaboration approach has enabled the global peatlands initiative to really facilitate peer-to-peer exchange of best practice and helping us to scale up and improve management actions for healthy peatlands by working in this way we can help countries make well-informed decisions and develop management and policy options that minimize impacts on people and the environment and avoid dangerous social and climatic to big points linked to peatland loss and degradation the global peatlands initiative work was recognized by uniq in their south south cooperation in action stories of success and in early 2019 and then further in 2020 the un system wide named the global peatlands initiative and the work that we've been doing as a south south and triangular cooperation best practice for the achievement of stg-15 life on land despite the challenges faced by covid peru the drc the republic of congo and indonesia continued to play a leadership role in influential and global policy making fora built on scientific research and expertise our diverse partners have been raising the importance of peatlands in a number of global fora including during the un f triple c cops and this year we've been coordinating a whole host of peatlands event concepts for a dedicated peatlands pavilion which we hope to be able to pull off at the clock in grass go really let's hope that we're able to come together in the physical and virtual space design there and as we heard from the minister of environment from indonesia they work together hard to be able to influence some of the most important global environmental policy making fora and in 2019 we saw indonesia together with the united states of america and the european union representatives joined forces to negotiate a dedicated resolution on the conservation and sustainable management of peatlands at the fourth united nations environment assembly this resolution is a commitment by all of the member states in the world to give a greater emphasis to the conservation sustainable management and restoration of peatlands worldwide and to support the sustainable practice of peatlands management and here we are this meeting today hosted by the excellence his excellency the the minister of environment from peru it's just another important milestone on our pathway we're really happy to be together to celebrate peru's commitment to join the international tropical peatland center and congratulate peru and the partners on the work that they're embarking on to integrate peatlands into critical policies and plans including into their n dc we were originally supposed to meet in 2020 but with the ongoing covid pandemic the meeting had to be postponed today we're honestly grateful to have all four ministers and their representatives together to exchange at this high level segment and we hope to have a technical segment held later on this year and then finally to be able to be back together face to face in peru if the situation will allow it next year today our honorable ministers have shared their work taking account the importance of peatlands to their countries and for their people and his excellency minister of environment from peru shared how peatlands can be an ecosystem where multilateral environmental agreements many multilateral environmental agreements can be advanced together and his excellency stressed that international collaboration is essential to protect peatlands and achieve global biodiversity and climate change targets his excellency also shared a number of important commitments made by the country including the supreme decree with an emphasis of the importance of multisectoral and decentralized management of weapons and also building off and learning from the indigenous communities about the management of natural resources found in peatlands her excellency minister of environment and forestry from indonesia shared with us the incredible diverse complex and just far reaching work that's been done by indonesia to restore their peatlands sharing their experience of including peatlands in their ndc and pushing further to advance data and information to aim at being carbon neutral her excellency her excellency emphasized indonesia's works to integrate policies and regulations under collaborative frameworks of ministries across many ministries for peatlands with some great examples of work undertaken by the dedicated peatlands restoration agency her excellency emphasized the need to continue to exchange and continue to share best practices across tropical peatland countries and with and through the international tropical peatland center and the global peatlands and ash tail the representative from the democratic republic of congo shared with us the importance of taking peatlands into account in climate change adaptation and mitigation policies both at the national and international levels and drc shared the need to support and develop policies that taken at the heart of their policies sustainable livelihoods without peatlands drainage the representative from the vice prime minister's office emphasized the need for economic valuation of peatlands upon which they would like to base their peatlands strategies and plans and also inform their decisions toward the conservation and sustainable management of peatlands and finally her excellency the minister of environment sustain of the development and the congo basin from the republic of congo kindly shared with us a powerful message on the importance of peatlands in the congo basin sharing the importance of this important significant global treasure and the spirit of collaboration and working together through trans boundary collaboration with important international support her excellency also called for more adequate financial resources to support the efforts in her country as well as across the region for the preservation of peatlands for the benefits of climate people and the world peatlands we know cover only three percent of the global land surface area yet they hold 30 percent of the world's soil carbon degradation through conservation and drainage has affected nearly 15 percent of all peatlands globally and these degraded peatlands cover just 0.4 percent of the global land area but they contribute as much as five to six percent of global human cause greenhouse gas emissions annually there are large knowledge gaps and information gaps that the global peatlands initiative partners are really working hard to fill for example we still don't know where all peatlands are or fully understand how they're changing and the global peatlands initiative partners are working together to improve our tools and approaches for peatlands monitoring and mapping drawing on expertise from around the world with FAO, C4 and the Geiswald Meijer Center and more who are advancing this work and building capacities across the world as a foundation for increased ambition towards global agreements to support the implementation of the UN decade on ecosystem restoration and to help the global peatlands initiative to establish the state of the world's peatlands in our upcoming global peatlands assessment a new network of peatlands researchers has recently joined together as part of the global peatlands initiative research working group with more than 150 members across the world helping to build capacities and share and connect up through interdisciplinary research helping to advance and harmonize peatlands research approaches across regions UNEP is now starting to coordinate efforts to establish the state of the world's peatlands through a global peatlands assessment assessment the global peatlands assessment will be organized by regions and biomes it will include best practice case studies and an interactive map and it will be available in the next two years and in three languages nature and our climate is in crisis the benefits of intact peatlands far outweigh their importance for fuel and food security the land that peatlands fall on is a relatively small sacrifice to pay for the immense benefits that they provide and as we move away from the use of coal for fuel we also need to move away from polluting and damaging agricultural practices that cause further and avoidable greenhouse gas emissions we need to work together to understand pathways and incentives for transitioning business models away from environmentally degrading actions toward more holistic solutions we deeply appreciate the efforts to tackle climate change and nature emergency will only be successful if we're able to work together and work at scale and with pace rest assured that the United Nations Environment Program and the Global Peatlands Initiative partners are here to support you together we look forward to continue to move the needle in the right direction for nature for climate and for our climate future and our children's future to invest in healthy peatlands now and take urgent action to conserve restore and sustainably manage those peatlands that have already been affected by land use disturbances and climate change thank you so much you're all a part of the solution we're excited to be here to take you on this journey together for peatlands for climate for people and our planet thanks very much thank you very much for the excellent summary and inspiring work that the Global Peatlands Initiative is doing to address the climate nature and pollution crisis Diana it is my honor now to call upon Luis Selena Guinan Quintero Vice Minister of Strategic Development of Natural Resources from the Ministry of Environmental Peru to conclude this productive session and share the closing remarks. Lisa has extensive experience in environmental planning and policies such as biodiversity climate change and water resources as well as in the direction management of projects related to sustainable development and environmental management in the Andean sub region I'm talking about Peru, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia as well as institutional development and attraction of financial resources project development and implementation and international negotiation negotiations in trade environment and sustainable development among other topics of relevance for natural resource management Vice Minister welcome the floor is yours go ahead please good morning thank you very much for a battle for these opportunity and thank you everyone distinguish the excellence your excellencies is to the prime minister of the environment of Indonesia is if Masayita Masubi vice minister of the environment and sustainable development of the democratic Republic of Congo miss Arlette Sudan no no minister of the environment and sustainable development of the Congo basin of the Republic of Congo Honorable partners from the Global Pillow and Initiative and dear guests I would like to speak in order to close this important event which has gathered us all today this virtual dialogue has allowed us to discuss some research and progress and challenges that we all share in this Global Pillow Initiative for Sustainable Management of Tropical Peoples the Peruvian government has announced important milestones for the increasing process for care to care for people and we hope that with the cooperation organizations and the experience of national international experts we can satisfactorily achieve them Peru promotes the recognition and implementation of nature-based solutions to mitigate the effects of climate change as well as other global challenges through the conservation and importance of strategic ecosystems such as deep deep lands we are committed to lead our country to comply with our international commitments in such topics the inclusion of peatlands as NTC it shows the importance of the role of the ecosystem services they provided the need to continue in researching peatlands in the framework of our commitment to promote the sustainable development and the reduction the global reduction of greenhouse gases our global framework as well as our explicit agreements to adhere to the ref to the benchmark of the international center of tropical peatlands will reinforce the joint work between the Peruvian government its peers worldwide meaning Indonesia the Republic Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo and the international cooperation institutions towards the joint search for nature-based solutions in order to face climate change and foster sustainable development and inclusive development likewise I would like to commit you all from anywhere you are in order to promote a more sustainable development of tropical peatlands promoting better practices creating building capacities integrating knowledge between men women and people in general for the conservation restoration and sustainable management and importance of tropical peatlands finally I would like to especially thank the different institutions that have made this event possible UNEP C4 and all of you specialists and technicians present today in this important session thank you very much for your attention thank you very much for your powerful statement to your excellency and thank you to all our distinguished ministers and speakers for sharing your valuable thoughts and experiences as leaders for the conservation restoration and sustainable management of peatlands globally today we've learned a lot and we deeply appreciate how incredibly important peatlands are I am we're grateful to know that peatlands provide extraordinary ecosystem and life-supporting services and offer an incredible opportunity to for to accelerate emissions reductions protecting the irrecoverable carbon sinks and providing precious refugees for rare and endangered species although we still identify some knowledge gaps what is clear is that peatlands matter for the for the climate people and the planet peatlands are a great nature-based solution and are the key to tackle the three planetary crisis crisis of climate change biodiversity loss and pollution we can do it but only if we work together we need more action and more cooperation we're not alone there is vast knowledge and expertise surrounding best practices for ecosystem conservation and restoration that we can draw on let's let us share our experiences and grow together for the protection of our tropical peatlands thank you very much for the participation of the distinguished leaders that join us today thanks to all of our speakers guests and everybody who's watching thank you as well to the organizers the ministry of the environment of Peru the UN environment program the global peatlands initiative the international tropical peatland center and the the international center for forest research for bringing us together today have a great day thank you very much if I can ask everyone that is still on the line ministers of environment and their technical teams if we can put a photo we can get a family photo the global peatlands initiative family photo as we usually do as a tradition please feel free to turn on your cameras so that we can get this photo there are many exciting and important questions that have been asked in the chat and as the global peatlands initiative team we'll collect those so that we can get back to those participants for for their responses and answers and we'll also share those with you so if there are any other people that would like to the whole team please that is here with us today turn on your cameras please thank you so much Yoli I don't see you as well as Julie and you may take a few family photos thanks so much and we'll take those photos now Coral thank you so much minister Sudan Anu great to see you and minister Ibusiti thank you so much Madame Sylvie thank you so much gracias José thank you and minister Luisa vice minister Luisa a pleasure to meet you thank you thank you so much for anyone that would like to stay on for an informal chat between the delegates please do feel free to stay on otherwise my sincere appreciation to everyone that made time and also share your knowledge as well as the commitment that we have together we've got some exciting things coming up as well with at the cop in Glasgow and hope to see you there either in person or also virtually