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Methane is an important anthropogenic greenhouse gas. The rise of atmospheric CH4 concentration has accelerated these last 10 years, challenging our ability to meet the goal of the Paris agreement to limit climate warming to less than 2 degrees, and leading to the launch of the Global Methane Pledge during the COP26 in 2021. There is still a large gap between bottom-up and top-down estimates of the global CH4 budget, with natural emissions being recognized as the greatest source of uncertainty: clarifying the role of terrestrial ecosystems in its balance is essential for understanding and predicting global warming.
The purpose of the session is to bring together scientists working on methanogenic and methanotrophic microorganisms and communities, measuring methane fluxes from soils, sediments, water, vegetation and at the ecosystem scale, and modelling methane transport and methane budget at different spatial scales to enhance our understanding of methane sources and sinks, and their responses to changing environmental conditions, in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, including but not limited to forests, grasslands, wetlands, freshwater bodies, mangroves and other coastal areas and agricultural lands.