Urbanization in developing countries overrides catchment productivity in fueling inland water CO2 emissions

We compiled a nationwide dataset of carbon dioxide (CO2 ) efflux from 1405 measurements, and found that lakes, reservoirs, and rivers emit a total of 61.9 ± 55.3 TgC as CO2 each year, corresponding to ~6.3% of the annual total national CO2 emission in 2020. Our analysis showed that the presence of anthropogenic disturbances in catchments strongly influences the emission of CO2 from these waters in the non-pristine areas, masking the catchment productivity effect on the emission of CO2 . Our results highlight the need for adjusting climate change models for taking into account anthropogenic effects on CO2 emissions from inland waters.