Trends in Biotechnology
ReviewSpecial Issue: Environmental BiotechnologyBiotechnological Advances for Restoring Degraded Land for Sustainable Development
Section snippets
Land Restoration for Regaining Essential Ecosystem Services
Rapid industrialization, urbanization, and agricultural activities during the last few decades have resulted in the wide-scale degradation of global land resources. It has been estimated that land degradation (see Glossary) is affecting ∼1.5 billion people (www.unccd.int) and ∼12.2 billion hectares of global land have been severely degraded due to pollution and other reasons 1, 2. There are 250 000 and 350 000 such highly contaminated sites in Europe [3] and in the USA, respectively [4]. In the
Recent Biotechnological Advancements for On-Site Cleaning
Plant and rhizosphere microorganisms are usually applied to remediate contaminated land: plants have the inherent ability to take up pollutants from soil and translocate pollutants into themselves, whereas microorganisms primarily degrade the pollutants. With the advent of the transgenic technology, plants and microorganisms can be engineered to better degrade pollutants. However, widespread political and ethical concerns regarding the use of genetically manipulated organisms in various
Biotechnological Advances for Monitoring Restored Soils
Consistent and effective monitoring is one of the foremost requirements to assess the progress of in situ restoration and remediation program. However, establishing a detailed plan for monitoring contaminated sites remains a global challenge [72]. Using standard microbiological techniques to quantify viable microbial populations can be the first step of monitoring. Metagenomics can play an important role in assessing the microbial diversity of the contaminated soil system and also provides
Bioremediation for Fostering Sustainable Development
Because land is a critical resource, there is growing competition of land for food and biofuel production. An additional area of 44–118 Mha (1.5–3.9 Mha/year) will be required by 2030 to meet the growing requirements for food and fuel production 1, 8. While changes in the existing patterns of land use will affect the resilience of ecological and socioeconomic systems, it is important to balance food and biofuel production 9, 13. However, it is also important to change perceptions towards degraded
Concluding Remarks and Future Perspectives
The scarcity of global land resources and the massive food, fibre, and energy demands of the burgeoning global population are driving the exploration of new tools for successful restoration of degraded land. With advancements in biotechnology, it should be possible to realize the potential of microbial partners, endophytes, AMF, and soil enzyme-mediated processes in the environment and use them for integrated restoration approaches. However, the restoration package should be site and
Acknowledgements
V.T., S.A.E., and P.C.A. are grateful to University Grants Commission (UGC) and Science Engineering Research Board (SERB) for financial support. N.G. and V.K.G. would like to acknowledge funding from the EU 7th Framework Programme for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration Activities under Grant Agreement No. 621364 (TUTIC-Green) and PUT1656 Sustainable surfactants grant (N.G.).
Glossary
- Biopile
- a bioremediation technology in which contaminated soils are mixed with suitable soil amendments.
- Bioremediation
- the use of biological agents such as bacteria or fungi, or their bioproducts, to remediate a polluted system.
- Biosensors
- biological tools for detecting the presence of a substrate which on detection provides a quantifiable signal.
- Biosurfactants
- a diverse group of amphophilic chemical molecules synthesized by microorganisms mostly on microbial cell surfaces.
- Ecosystem services
- the
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These authors contributed equally to this work