Developing strategies to reduce emissions from rivers

Techniques to monitor greenhouse gas emissions from rivers

Education & ResearchEnvironmental policyWater & Sanitation
Project type
Dissemination project
Project coordinator
Ghent University
Project partner
Antea Group
Start date
January 1, 2022
Total budget
€ 250.000
Amount of subsidy
€ 200.000
Project type
Dissemination project
Project coordinator
Ghent University
Project partner
Antea Group
Start date
January 1, 2022
Total budget
€ 250.000
Amount of subsidy
€ 200.000
Project type
Dissemination project
Project coordinator
Ghent University
Project partner
Antea Group
Start date
January 1, 2022
Total budget
€ 250.000
Amount of subsidy
€ 200.000

Online platform with standardized measurement techniques for greenhouse gases from rivers

PROBLEM STATEMENT

Up till now, research on greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) has mainly focussed on those from the terrestrial landscape. But new evidence has revealed that rivers are emitting a lot more GHGs than previously assumed. However, there is a lack of sufficient, accurate data to properly quantify these emissions in developing countries.

While efforts have been made to improve this, different measurement techniques have resulted in inconsistent reporting. Comparison of these techniques has shown an absence of consensus between them. This lack of standardisation most likely explains the discrepancies.

SOLUTIONS

Techniques for monitoring GHG emissions from river basins will be inventoried and standardised to provide affordable methods with well-developed Standard Operation Procedures. The techniques will be tested in representative river basins from diverse climatic regions at different scales, to validate and optimise them via local partners’ feedback. These findings will be used to develop strategies for reducing GHG emissions from rivers.

EXPECTED RESULTS

An online platform will be developed to share training materials (documents and videos) for standardised GHG measurement techniques. Users can select different monitoring scenarios for river systems, such as river area, river flow, landscape and study scale. Then they get suggestions for appropriate measurement techniques, with Standard Operation Procedures, pros and cons, and applicability.

Contribution to the sustainable development goals

Partners