Urbanization in developing countries overrides catchment productivity in fueling inland water CO 2 emissions.

We compiled a nationwide dataset of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) efflux from 1405 measurements, and found that lakes, reservoirs, and rivers emit a total of 61.9 ± 55.3 TgC as CO 2 each year, corresponding to ~6.3% of the annual total national CO 2 emission in 2020. Our analysis showed that the presence of anthropogenic disturbances in catchments strongly influences the emission of CO 2 from these waters in the non-pristine areas, masking the catchment productivity effect on the emission of CO 2 . Our results highlight the need for adjusting climate change models for taking into account anthropogenic effects on CO 2 emissions from inland waters.