Trends in Biotechnology
Volume 35, Issue 9, September 2017, Pages 847-859
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Review
Special Issue: Environmental Biotechnology
Biotechnological Advances for Restoring Degraded Land for Sustainable Development

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tibtech.2017.05.001Get rights and content

Trends

Global land degradation negatively affects the ecosystem services offered by land systems.

Biotechnological advancements (e.g., genomics, metabolomics, and proteomics) can be exploited for restoring degraded lands for multipurpose environmental benefits.

Customized (site-specific, pollutant-specific, and cost-effective) packages are essential for successful restoration programs.

Restoration efforts must also be targeted for obtaining bioproducts for supporting a bio-based economy.

Global land resources are under severe threat due to pollution and unsustainable land use practices. Restoring degraded land is imperative for regaining ecosystem services, such as biodiversity maintenance and nutrient and water cycling, and to meet the food, feed, fuel, and fibre requirements of present and future generations. While bioremediation is acknowledged as a promising technology for restoring polluted and degraded lands, its field potential is limited for various reasons. However, recent biotechnological advancements, including producing efficient microbial consortia, applying enzymes with higher degrees of specificity, and designing plants with specific microbial partners, are opening new prospects in remediation technology. This review provides insights into such promising ways to harness biotechnology as ecofriendly methods for remediation and restoration.

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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