In December 2025, during the seventh session of the UN Environment Programme (UNEA-7) in Nairobi, Kenya, the Global Peatlands Initiative (GPI), co-hosted a high-level event on “Harnessing Science and Indigenous Knowledge for Climate Resilience and Nature Action: a focus on peatlands and coral reefs”.

The event brought together UN leaders, ministers, Indigenous leaders, and scientists, showcasing how sustainable management of peatlands is strengthened when led and guided by traditional knowledge and science – two different knowledge systems, working as one.

Indonesia was represented by Erik Teguh Primiantoro, Senior Advisor to the Minister of Environment for International Cooperation and Diplomacy, who reflected on the country’s long-standing engagement with the Global Peatlands Initiative and its leadership in tropical peatland management. He outlined Indonesia’s strategic pathway, one that brings together governmental reform, technological advancement, and social and capital transformation, while placing particular emphasis on community led and locally grounded action. He also reaffirmed Indonesia’s commitment to strategic partnerships, including the Global Peatlands Initiative and the International Tropical Peatlands Centre.

The event reinforced Indonesia’s strategic role in shaping global peatland action and demonstrated how sustained partnerships under IKI continue to translate global commitments into national planning, policy alignment, and impact for sustainable peatland management—in other words, as Mr Primiantoro described it, “to walk the talk”.