Recarbon

In this project, we will mainly focus on enhancing the soil carbon storage in floodplain environments. This can be achieved by land management actions that can include rewetting and thus also the restoration of wetlands in fluvial systems, as well as through land use changes such as reforestation of floodplain environments.

We will examine which land management technologies need to be employed to maximize net terrestrial carbon storage or land-based negative emissions. With this project, we also contribute to the scope of the overall priority topic 3, i.e. 'towards climate neutrality by 2050' and fit with both the EU Green Deal as well as regional environmental policies (e.g. in Flanders the Blue Deal). Rewetting and wetland restoration are considered as important tools to achieve the EU goals.

Furthermore, we will also work in close collaboration with various stakeholders (i.e. policy makers and local managers) to identify political, economic and social factors that support implementation of negative emission technologies as well as political, economic and social barriers.