For ecological restoration, carbon-cycle regulation, and water-environment governance in dammed rivers, Smart Ecohydrology connects process science, AI models, and nature-based pathways into an explainable and collaborative academic theme.
Positioning
Smart Ecohydrology studies the river-reservoir continuum by linking ecohydrology, carbon-flux observation, microbial geochemistry, water-environment processes, engineering impact assessment, and policy-facing applications into a full chain from scientific understanding to AI-assisted decisions.
The platform focuses on coupled water, life, and carbon cycles under artificial hydrological regulation, translating sparse observations, process models, and knowledge reasoning into diagnostic, evaluative, and scenario-ready evidence for dammed-river decisions.
Research
Three research blocks support the scientific explanation, intelligent assessment, and solution generation of Smart Ecohydrology for restoration, low-carbon management, and adaptive governance in dammed rivers.
Diagnoses how reservoir operation, altered connectivity, habitat reshaping, and biogeochemical changes connect hydrological processes, habitat conditions, biological communities, and carbon cycling across river-reservoir systems.
Studies CO₂ and CH₄ fluxes and their relationships with hydrodynamics, nutrient cycling, algal-bacterial processes, and engineering operation to reduce uncertainty in dammed-river carbon-source and carbon-sink assessments.
Integrates multi-source monitoring, ecohydrological process models, knowledge graphs, causal inference, scenario simulation, and intelligent Q&A into an assessment-diagnosis-optimization toolchain for dammed-river nature-based solutions.
International Cooperation
The International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development (IDSSD, 2024–2033) was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly on 25 August 2023, with UNESCO leading its implementation. It advances sustainable development through global scientific collaboration, actionable knowledge, open science, and the equitable sharing of scientific benefits.
Against this background, Smart-HydroC, proposed by the team, was included in the Third Set of Endorsed Projects under the International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development (IDSSD).
An IDSSD-endorsed project · Science Decade 2024–2033
Smart Ecohydrology: AI-Powered Ecohydrological Assessment and Carbon Cycle Regulation in Damming Rivers
Focused on the dammed river–reservoir continuum, the project advances ecohydrological process diagnosis, CO₂/CH₄ carbon-cycle assessment, cross-regional model validation, and adaptive management, promoting actionable knowledge, open tools, and international collaboration.
Alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals
Smart-HydroC contributes to the global sustainability agenda, connecting water, energy, climate and partnerships through science.
SDG 6Linking water quality and river basin management to aquatic carbon cycling and ecosystem services.
SDG 7Supporting low-carbon certification and climate-resilient operation of hydropower infrastructure.
SDG 13Enabling precise CO₂/CH₄ greenhouse gas accounting and operational mitigation strategies in regulated river–reservoir systems.
SDG 17Establishing a multilateral cooperation framework through UNESCO-IHP Ecohydrology Demo-sites and global partner networks.
GLOBAL NETWORK
Connecting research institutions, basin organizations and practitioners for collaborative research, cross-basin validation and open knowledge exchange.
HOW WE COLLABORATE
IPN partners engage with Smart-HydroC through three complementary collaboration pathways.
With international partners, we co-define research questions, share cases and data, compare mechanisms, develop models, and assess scenarios across water–energy–ecology–carbon trade-offs in dammed rivers—turning evidence into actionable knowledge and decision tools for basin management and hydropower operations.
Through UNESCO-IHP Ecohydrology Demo-sites, representative dammed rivers and reservoirs become shared research and validation settings for observation design, method comparison, model validation, and adaptive-management assessment, with emphasis on the Global South, Africa, and Small Island Developing States.
Building on the Belt and Road “Frontiers in Ecohydrology” International Workshop, a flagship cooperation initiative between UNESCO and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, we continue to open courses, data protocols, and lightweight tools, while supporting train-the-trainer programs and local application so that ecohydrological methods, research capacity, and project benefits are shared equitably.
Tools
Simulates and assesses reservoir CO₂ and CH₄ emission processes and their key controls for river-reservoir carbon-cycle research and mitigation scenarios.
A web-based entry for engineering impact diagnosis, lifecycle quantification, mitigation comparison, and reporting workflows.
Identifies watershed pollution inputs, source contributions, and risk profiles to support water-environment governance and management decisions.
Organizes freshwater microbial interactions, ecological functions, and environmental responses into a knowledge graph for process understanding and intelligent retrieval.
An assistant for ecohydrology, dammed-river NbS, carbon-cycle knowledge, and policy material workflows.
Team Information
Introduces the research strength, disciplinary structure, and capability base supporting the Smart Ecohydrology platform.
Brings together team papers, standards, books, patents, software copyrights, and awards.
Shares field observations, academic workshops, project progress, and cooperation updates.
