Review: Biotechnological advances for restoring degraded land for sustainable development ($)

One of the challenges of future food security is to feed a growing population without further impinging on undisturbed ecosystems, which is a primary goal of efforts to increase yields. At the other end of the equation, Tripathi et al. address opportunities to recover degraded lands for sustainable development. They describe methods for removing metals and organic pollutants from soils, ranging from microbe- and plant-remediation efforts, to nanobiotechnology and biosensors for environmental monitoring. Further, the authors propose that, “such restoration activities must be targeted to derive additional benefits like soil carbon sequestration, biomass and biofuel  production, and for obtaining bioproducts for industrial benefits.” Trends Biotechnol. 10.1016/j.tibtech.2017.05.001