Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

Optimising wetland restoration strategies to minimise methane emissions and maximise carbon uptake

Project description

Restoring wetlands while minimising greenhouse gas emissions

Restoring degraded peat soils is an attractive but largely untested strategy for climate change mitigation. However, scientific data for guiding this process and assessing its impacts are thus far limited. One possible outcome of restoration is low carbon uptake and high levels of methane emissions. The EU-funded WETRES project will characterise greenhouse gas fluxes from restored wetlands to determine how fluxes change when these drained and degraded environments are restored, in an effort to minimise methane emissions and maximise carbon uptake. The work will range from the molecular to the ecosystem level and involve the analyses of different factors, such as site-specific hydrology, legacy effects, soil chemistry, soil microbiology and vegetation development, in conjunction with greenhouse gas emissions.

Objective

The aim of the WETRES project is to determine the greenhouse gas fluxes from restored wetlands to see how fluxes change if drained and degraded wetlands are restored. Restoring degraded peat soils is an attractive, but largely untested climate change mitigation approach. Drained peat soils used for agriculture or for peat extraction are often large carbon dioxide sources and will contribute to global warming. Therefore, restoring subsided peat soils to managed, impounded wetlands can turn these sources into carbon sinks. However, at present, the amount of scientific information available to guide such restoration decisions and assess the impact of these actions is still sparse and restoration outcomes can be low carbon uptake and high methane emissions. Therefore, the overarching goal of this project is to provide an experimental and theoretical understanding of how to restore wetlands with minimised methane emissions and maximised carbon uptake. To understand processes that regulate carbon sequestration efficiency and methane fluxes, there is a need to cover fields from the molecular level to the ecosystem level. To achieve that, multiple drivers, such as site-specific hydrology, legacy effects, soil chemistry, soil microbiology, vegetation development will be analysed in conjunction with greenhouse gas emissions. This effort directly addresses the European H2020 priorities of sustainable rural development and lower greenhouse gas emissions, which will help to slow down climate change.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2020

See all projects funded under this call

Coordinator

TARTU ULIKOOL
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 254 362,56
Address
ULIKOOLI 18
51005 TARTU
Estonia

See on map

Region
Eesti Eesti Lõuna-Eesti
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 254 362,56

Partners (1)

My booklet 0 0