In recent years together with partners he developed various large scale initiatives that work towards increased recognition of the importance of wetlands in reducing hazards and their impacts: Partners for Resilience for example is a 36 million euro risk reduction programme that aims to enhance resilience for more than 400.000 people in 9 countries by bringing together approaches from the environment, development and humanitarian sectors. Within the Building with Nature innovation programme Pieter works with the engineering sector to develop new approaches towards coastal protection where infrastructure and ecosystem-based approaches are combined. He has worked in a variety of ecosystems in more than 20 countries, focusing on mangroves, peatlands and river systems.

Pieter holds a MSc degree from Wageningen University in the Netherlands, specializing in tropical ecology and international nature conservation.

Since August 2010 Pieter serves in the board of the Transpetrol foundation. As a volunteer he is engaged in breeding bird surveys, migration counts and bird ringing schemes, within and outside the Netherlands.