Keynote speakers

Rudy van Diggelen, Professor Emeritus at the University of Antwerp, specializes in Restoration Ecology, particularly in wetlands. With extensive experience spanning academia and practical conservation, he focuses on biodiversity conservation and nature restoration, emphasizing water-soil-nutrient-vegetation relationships. Dr. van Diggelen holds influential roles, including chairing the European chapter of the Society for Ecological Restoration and leading the review commission on Restoration strategies Nitrogen for the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture. He advises on peatland and wetland management globally, shaping environmental policies. As a prolific author, his work bridges scientific research with practical applications, contributing significantly to ecosystem conservation and restoration.
https://www.uantwerpen.be/en/staff/ruurd-vandiggelen/

Viktar Fenchuk is a wetland conservationists and wildlife biologist from Belarus. He is a former director of APB-BirdLife Belarus, the country’s largest environmental NGO and the leader of the international wilderness conservation programme for APB and the Frankfurt Zoological Society. Viktar was one of the initiators and leaders of several large-scale peatland restoration projects and programmes in Belarus. He was active in establishing effective cooperation between different partners working in wetland conservation and restoration in Belarus and abroad, due to which about every second hectare of restored peatlands in Belarus was restored by or with input from APB. As part of APB and governmental cooperation, he was many times part of Belarus national delegations to UNFCCC and Ramsar Convention meetings and organizer of parallel events promoting peatland restoration and sharing Belarus’ experience in rewetting, GHG balance assessment and biodiversity monitoring. Following the 2020 presidential elections in Belarus, Viktar was arrested and sentenced to 2.5 years of imprisonment for participating in peaceful protests. He currently continues to work for the benefit of wetlands in Poland.

Mariusz Lamentowicz and his team at the Climate Change Ecology Research Unit (Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland) use palaeoecological and experimental approaches to understand the impact of current and past climate changes and anthropogenic disturbances on peatlands. He conducted the research on the data from peatlands in, e.g., Siberia, Mongolia, Central America, Amazon, Switzerland, Falkland Islands, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Furthermore, Prof. Lamentowicz is an expert in palaeoecology and the ecology of testate amoebae (Protista). He cooperates with specialists studying the morphology and taxonomy of these organisms. His long-term aim is the implementation of interdisciplinary research on the impact of climate change on peatlands through the integration of monitoring, experiments, and paleoecology. Recently, Prof. Lamentowicz has worked on questions related to peatland restoration and scientific communication with stakeholders. Furthermore, he is involved in climate education, scientific communication and communication with non-scientific audiences through podcasts, movies, lectures and seminars.

Jane Madgwick, Executive Director of Global Commons Alliance. “Wetlands as vital global commons”