Abstract:
The United Nation's Sustaiable Development Goals (SDGs) Wewe stablished to achieve several key challenges by 2030. SDGprotection
and restoration of water-related ecosystems under SDG-6.6. Exploring the
research underpinning SDG- 6.6 is crucial for identifying research gaps and guiding
future directions. This study aimed to find this gap through a bibliometric analysis with
'Biblioshiny' package in R. A total of 1181 articles (2015-June 2024) were retrieved from
There was a
predominant focus on freshwater ecosystems of lakes, rivers, wetlands, and aquifers,
where China and United States emerged as top contributors. In line with SDG-6.6,
"Management," "Biodiversity," "Water," and "Rivers" were the key research areas. The
highest number of studies focused on lakes (24.38%) followed by rivers (22.26%),
mountains and forests (13.29%), and wetlands (7.70%). Among them, rivers (187
articles) and lakes (176 articles) had the highest number of protection-focused studies.
Chinese researchers published the highest number of publications (291), of which
73.85% were authored solely by them, while 27.15% were multi-country collaborations.
Out of 1181 papers, 57% and 32 % addressed protection and restoration respectively
highlighting a significant gap in freshwater ecosystems protection and emphasizing the
need for a more balanced approach for their health and resilience. The study advocates
prioritizing restoration research alongside protection strategies through global
collaboration, interdisciplinary efforts, and increased investment to address these research
gaps in freshwater ecosystems and achieve SDG-6.6.
