Abstract call to WATER RC Sessions

Chair: Dr. Merve Atasoy

Description:
As climate change intensifies, the need for sustainable wastewater management has never been more critical. The wastewater treatment (WWT) sector is a significant yet often overlooked contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, accounting for approximately 15% of global emissions—a figure expected to rise by 22% by 2030. Traditional wastewater treatment plants, designed primarily to meet water quality standards, rely on linear, energy- and chemical-intensive processes that generate large amounts of waste sludge and release potent GHGs such as CO₂, CH₄, and N₂O. However, wastewater is not just waste—it is a valuable resource rich in carbon and nutrients. This session will explore emerging technologies and practical applications that facilitate the transition from conventional WWT to next-generation, energy- and carbon-neutral treatment plants. We will discuss scalable solutions for resource recovery, process optimization, and GHG mitigation, aiming to transform WWT into sustainable resource recovery hubs.

Key Questions to Be Addressed:

• What are the latest and upcoming technologies for energy- and carbon-neutral WWT?

• What are the technology readiness levels (TRLs) of these solutions, and what are the scalability challenges, bottlenecks, and mitigation strategies?

• How can we effectively reduce GHG emissions from both direct and indirect sources in WWTs?

Keywords:
wastewater treatment, wastewater treatment plants, resource recovery, carbon neutrality, nutrient recovery, energy-efficient treatment processes

Chairs: Dr. Antti Iho, Dr. Hannu Nykänen, & Prof. Jukka Pumpanen

Description

Hydropower is a relatively clean, renewable and flexible energy source. Its negative environmental impacts are related to dams, reservoirs, and hydropeaking. Dams isolate riverine habitats and block migration, and hydropeaking alters flow regimes and impedes ecosystem functionality. Reservoirs alter water temperatures, via changes in biogeochemistry they may increase nutrient loading downstream, and they may be significant sources of greenhouse gases (GHG).

The environmental impacts are case-specific. According to the IPCC, the GHG emission rates vary from 20 g/kWh to as high as 2000 g/kWh. High methane emissions due to decomposing, submerged organic material has been seen as a problem related to tropical hydropower. However, the emissions from boreal zone reservoirs have also shown to be substantial and may last longer than anticipated.

This special session invites presentations that model and/or empirically quantify the environmental effects related to boreal zone hydropower, particularly to their reservoirs.

The session welcomes submissions on topics including, but not limited to:

• Methane and other GHG emissions
• Nutrient and dissolved organic matter loading
• Water quality
• Heavy metals and toxic compounds in fish and foodweb
• Impact of regulatory power on environmental impact via fluctuations in the water table
• Temperature effects
• Groundwater effect
• Ecosystem effects

Keywords

Hydropower, reservoirs, methane, nitrogen, phosphorus, organic matter, energy system

Chairs: Dr. Miina Porkka, Dr. Suvi-Tuuli Puharinen, & Dr. Vili Virkki

Anthropogenic pressures disturb the freshwater cycle across the globe, resulting in the deterioration of water-dependent ecosystems, disruption of water-mediated climate feedbacks, and increasing water scarcity. Perturbations of freshwater systems are not only local in nature but are often globally induced and can lead to large-scale consequences – both via the hydrological cycle and societal interactions. For example, local water and land use can be driven by consumption of internationally traded agricultural goods, and changes in local hydrology and water quality may have far-reaching impacts through the hydrological cycle and related climatic, ecological and biogeochemical processes. To advance sustainable water security and resilience, governance eHorts need to acknowledge and address the interconnectedness of society, the hydrological cycle and other Earth systems across scales. This perspective challenges the prevailing institutional arrangements of water governance, existing environmental legal frameworks and other governance approaches. For instance, international water law has focused on establishing water governance arrangements for regional and local transboundary water contexts, while supranational and national water law regulate the use and protection of waters in their territorial context. Moreover, the role of legal regimes, such as sectoral economic policies, trade and corporate law, in driving water cycle disruptions at a globalised scale is poorly understood, and hence their potential in contributing to governance for sustainable water security remains underexplored. This session explores global perspectives to sustainable water security and resilience, incorporating insights from various disciplines. We especially welcome interdisciplinary approaches aiming to bridge knowledge gaps and build understanding beyond disciplinary or methodological silos.

Examples of questions to be addressed in the session

• How should the concept of water resilience be understood and operationalised from the global systems perspective?
• What are the roles and responsibilities of diHerent actors, economic and societal sectors, and policies in the disruption of the global hydrological cycle?
• What are the large-scale consequences of various hydrological disturbances that are overlooked by current research paradigms or water governance approaches?
• How could governance institutions and legal frameworks be improved and adapted to be better suited for the governance of the global hydrological cycle?
• What governance solutions and legal and policy instruments could address globally connected freshwater challenges and steer towards a sustainable, just transition that enhances water resilience across scales?

Keywords that encapsulate the themes of the proposed session

Hydrological cycle, global connections, water governance, water law, water resilience, water security

Chair: Prof. Anssi Vainikka

Ecological sustainability in aquatic systems is not easily defined, since these systems face challenges at all levels of biodiversity. Freshwater and brackish water ecosystems, in particular, are threatened from all sides, and not least by direct human uses than tend to be highly selective in evolutionary terms. Fisheries, both commercial and recreational, are of great socioecological importance, with Finland having also exceptionally large commercial fisheries sector in freshwaters. This session calls for presentations that deal with the ecological and evolutionary sustainability of commercial and recreational fisheries, conservation of endangered aquatic species, communities and food webs, and presentations that touch the sustainability questions through experimental settings or focus on the restoration of the lost biodiversity. Further, presentations about studies that evaluate human-dimensions including well-being, tourism, regulation and governance around these questions are strongly desired. With these calls, the session aims to discuss in an intersectoral way how ecological and genetic diversity can be monitored and maintained in aquatic systems and what kind of regulative changes would be needed to meet the true sustainability goals and one health. The session aims to synthesize information from disciplines that are traditionally distinct both in governance and research, and as such aims to bring geneticists, fisheries researchers, aquatic ecologists, biodiversity researchers and social scientists together to refresh our joint situational picture of the current needs and development goals.

Keywords: aquatic, biodiversity, genetics, genetic diversity, ecological, evolutionary, sustainability

Invited keynote speakers in this session:

Invited keynote talk, 30 min: “Citizen science in fisheries management”. Christian Skov (National Institute of Aquatic Resources, Section for Freshwater Fisheries Ecology, Technical University of Denmark)

Invited keynote talk, 30 min: “Genetic tools in fisheries management”. Tuomas Leinonen, Natural Resources Institute Finland

Chairs: Prof. Henna Konu & Prof. Hanna Lehtimäki

This session explores sustainability transformations through the lens of micro-level transitions and human perspectives, focusing on the everyday actions, values, and experiences that shape larger systemic changes. We are particularly interested in how individuals, communities, and small-scale actors engage with and influence sustainability efforts in climate change, resilience and just transitions across domains such as tourism, the circular economy, and the platform economy.

The session highlights emerging knowledge needs in nature-based tourism, sustainable ecosystem governance, the role of digital platforms (e.g., Airbnb) and technologies (e.g., Virtual Reality), and how these intersect with themes such as regenerative and transformative tourism, amenity values, cultural ecosystem services, therapeutic landscapes, pro-environmental attitudes, behaviours and corporate social and environmental responsibility. We are especially interested in how circular economy principles are interpreted and enacted at the micro-level—through user practices, design choices, and community initiatives.

Overall, we seek contributions that investigate how human–nature connections, ecosystem relations, and digital infrastructures foster or hinder social and ecological sustainability. Papers focusing on micro-processes, situated practices, and lived experiences are particularly welcome.

Proposed Topics Include:

• Micro-level socio-ecological processes in sustainability transitions
• Individual agency and everyday practices in sustainability transformation
• Situated knowledge and lived experience in circular economy and regenerative change
• Human–nature connection as a driver for sustainability action
• Platform economy and digital infrastructures – cases of socially sustainable transitions
• Knowledge needs and sustainability practices in nature-based tourism businesses
• Regenerative and transformative tourism through the lens of micro-transition processes
• Amenity values and cultural ecosystem services in tourism and everyday landscapes
• Therapeutic and emotional geographies in sustainability transformations

Chairs: Dr. Lukas Kohl & Dr. Carlos Palacin-Lizarbe

Nitrous oxide (N₂O) is a potent green-house gas (GHG) with significant impact on global warming; this gas is also the largest contributor to ozone depletion. N₂O emissions have increased by 40% from 1980 to 2020. Predicting nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions is crucial for mitigating its impact on climate change. However, there is a high uncertainty in predicting N₂O emissions due to the variability in emissions factors and to monitoring challenges. Emission factors for N₂O can vary widely depending on the specific system. The accuracy of N₂O emission measurements is influenced by the number of measuring locations, analytical methods, data frequency, and duration of monitoring campaigns.

This session aims to bring together scientists working on N₂O emissions across ecosystems. We welcome contributions about N₂O emissions from any ecosystem, as well as N₂O production and consumption processes and mechanisms in the biosphere atmosphere interface. Data integrating emissions of several GHGs over large temporal and spatial scales would be very welcome.

Keywords: Nitrous oxide, green-house gas emissions, climate change