On 23 February 2026, Dr. Anastasiia Splodytel participated as a co-speaker in the expert discussion “Natural Defences: How Landscapes Support Security and Resilience” as part of the international forum Café Kyiv 2026 at the Colosseum Berlin. The panel explored the contribution that natural landscapes—particularly rewetted peatlands, river landscapes, and other wetlands—can make to national security, climate protection, and local livelihoods. The session opened with excerpts from the documentary “Natural Border” by the Ukrainian public broadcaster Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine, highlighting the strategic consequences of decades of peatland drainage and the potential of restored wetlands. The subsequent discussion brought together perspectives from Ukraine and the European Union. Panelists examined how landscape and soil restoration can generate tangible security and climate benefits, which political frameworks and financing instruments are required, and how short-term economic pressures can be reconciled with long-term resilience.
In addition to Dr. Splodytel, the discussion featured Andreas Beckmann, Regional CEO of WWF Central and Eastern Europe, and Olga Denyshchyk, Scientific Project Coordinator at the Michael Succow Foundation. The panel was moderated by Anna Ackermann, Moderator and Policy Analyst at the International Institute for Sustainable Development.
Café Kyiv 2026 brought together around 6,000 participants from politics, business, academia, and civil society and was fully sold out. The event was opened at the highest political level, including by Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, Chair of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, Oleksii Makeiev, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Supporting institutions included the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).
