The Vietnam Mekong Delta (VMD) is an essential region providing food security. According to The World Bank (2024), the Mekong Delta is the Vietnamese centre of rice production, with 50% of the country’s rice production and 90% of exports. Besides its agricultural activity, VMD is also an important aquacultural …

Power-to-X technologies play a crucial role in accelerating the energy and material transition. A key opportunity lies in integrating these systems with existing bio-based infrastructures such as anaerobic digesters, providing a reliable source of biogenic carbon. Developing effective Power-to-Methanol …

Diatoms are essential in the aquatic ecosystem, especially in estuary systems like the Scheldt Estuary, in which centric diatoms are the dominant phytoplankton and serve as an important food resource for upper trophic levels. The understanding of the population dynamics is therefore an essential element …

As the year passes, keeping themselves afloat has become more challenging for the Netherlands. Climate change and sea level rise are primary factors influencing the maintenance and reinforcement of the country's dikes system. Therefore, a new Delta Plan has been implemented to make the dikes system climate-proof …

The canalisation of South Africa's Liesbeek River has resulted in the degradation of its ecosystem. To prevent further deterioration of the Liesbeek River, the Rosebank village green section of the river is being rehabilitated. Because of this pilot project, it is uncertain how the Liesbeek River's Rehabilitation …

Freshwater habitats are under stress from agricultural land use, most notably the influx of neonicotinoid pesticides and increased nutrient pressure from fertilizer. Traditional studies investigating the effects of stressors on freshwater systems are often limited to a narrow range of taxa, depending …

Worldwide, fish species are the most threatened taxa among freshwater vertebrates and have declined by 76% over the past 40 years. Anthropogenic activities such as the construction of dykes and dams are the main cause of this. These obstacles are very important for contemporary society, but they pose …

DNA-based identification through the use of metabarcoding has been proposed as the next step in the monitoring of biological communities, such as those assessed under the Water Framework Directive (WFD). Advances have been made in the field of metabarcoding, but challenges remain when using complex samples. …

The heterogeneous nature of environmental DNA (eDNA) and its effects on species detection and community composition estimates has been highlighted in several studies in the past decades. Mostly in the context of spatial distribution over large areas, in fewer occasions looking at spatial distribution …

The present study focuses on the environmental and socio-economic impacts of extreme drought in the Aspiring UNESCO Scheldt Delta Geopark (ASDG). Climate change projections indicate that periods of extreme drought, as experienced in 2018, are likely to occur with higher frequency and intensity in the …