Restoring Degraded Lands

Purushothaman C. Abhilash is a Senior Assistant Professor of Sustainability Science in the Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development (IESD) at Banaras Hindu University. He also leads the Agroecosystem Specialist Group of IUCN-Commission on Ecosystem Management. He is a fellow of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, India. His research interest lies in various inventive methods for restoring marginal, degraded, and polluted lands for regaining ecosystem services. He is particularly interested in system sustainability, circular economy principles, policy realignment, and the localization of UN-SDGs for sustainable development. He is part of the editorial board of prestigious journals on Ecology, Environment, and Sustainable Development, and also serves as a subject expert for UN-IPBES, IRP-UNEP, UNDP-BES Network, IPCC, UNCCD, APN, GLP, and IUCN Commissions (CEM, CEC, CEESP, and SSC) for fostering global sustainability. Sheikh Adil Edrisi works in the field of sustainability analysis of degraded land development for multipurpose environmental benefits. He examines the role of GIS to assess land productivity; bioremediation of contaminated and degraded lands for efficient energy production; and biodiversity restoration and conservation. He is also the Guest Editor of Land (MDPI), and a contributor and reviewer of various international peer-reviewed journals. He is an initial member of the Global Soil Biodiversity Initiatives. He is currently an active member of IUCN-CEM. The author has been awarded best presentation in national and international conferences. He has also received the prestigious Green Talent Award from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany, for 2019. He has also received a prestigious travel grant from the Department of Science and Technology, Science and Engineering Research Board, Government of India (DST-SERB, GoI), to collaborate and present his work in Slovenia (Europe). Pradeep Kumar Dubey’s research interest lies in integrating sustainability research with traditional and ecological agriculture, nature-based solutions, and the 2030 agenda for sustainable development. He has validated and demonstrated several resources conserving agricultural practices. He is involved in various extension activities and periodically offers training on adaptive and climate resilient agricultural practices and agrobiodiversity management. His research credentials include international scientific publications, receiving the Young Scientific Award, IUCN-CEM Agroecosystem Specialist Groups, serving as the Managing Editor of Climate Change and Environmental Sustainability and as Guest Editor of Agriculture (MDPI). He is an editorial member of the Agroecosystem Specialist Group, IUCN-CEM, and a Commission Member, CEM-IUCN ‘South Asia’ and ‘Young Professional Network’ for themes of ecosystem services, ecosystem-based adaptation and mitigation, sustainable use and management of ecosystems. Vishal Tripathi holds a PhD in Environmental Science and Technology, Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University. He works in the field of molecular ecology of plant-microbe interactions in the rhizosphere and its utilization in bioremediation for the development of sustainable land restoration practices. Apart from his work on bioremediation of organic pollutants, he has also provided novel insights for bioenergy and phytoproducts synthesis from the biomass of phytoremediation. He is a member of the IUCN-Commission for Ecosystem Management and the Ambassador for the International Hexachlorocyclohexane and Pesticide Association. Currently, he is editing a special issue on ‘Bioremediation of Degraded Soil for Environmental Sustainability’. He has been the recipient of the best presentation award in two international conferences and has also received the AUCBT-Research Excellence Award in 2016 from the Biotech Research Excellence Society, India. Pankaj Srivastava works as a Research Associate at ICAR-IISWC, India. He is an initial member of the Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative. He is currently an active member of the IUCN-CEM agro-ecosystem group. He received the Outstanding Reviewer Award (2018) from Energy, Ecology and Environment, Springer, and the Biovision Award (2014) from The World Academy of Sciences (TWAs, Italy). His research interest lies in land restoration, soil and water conservation, sustainability science and climate-resilient agriculture. Apart from his work on restoration of degraded land, he has also provided novel insights into phytoremediation, biofuel, and nature-based solutions for climate change research. He is a reviewer of prestigious journals on land degradation and development, soil and tillage research, Energy, Ecology and Environment, Bulletin of Environmental Contamination. Amitava Rakshit is a faculty member of the Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry at the Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University. His research areas include nutrient use efficiency, simulations modelling, organic farming, integrated nutrient management, and bioremediation. His consulting capabilities are composting techniques, soil health management, and input quality control. He is currently the Chief Editor of the International Journal of Agriculture Environment and Biotechnology. He is a member of the Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition of FAO, Rome, and the Commission on Ecosystem Management of International Union for Conservation of Nature.

I. Introduction 1. Global land degradation: A state of the art 2. Land degradation, societal development and UN-SDGs 3. Facilitating land restoration during the UN-Decade on Ecosystem Restoration

II. Processes and characteristics of land degradation 4. Different processes of land degradation 5. Characteristics and mechanisms in degraded lands due to salinity 6. Marginal and degraded lands under arid regions: Challenges and opportunities 7. Drivers and mechanisms of Land desertification: Current trends and challenges 8. Assessing the mechanisms and cycling of contaminants in different contaminated sites

III. Land restoration practices on degraded lands for sustainable development 9. Practices for restoring the degraded lands: A state of the art 10. Ecological considerations in restoring marginal and degraded lands 11. Societal deliberations of restoration initiatives on marginal and degraded lands 12. Economic considerations in restoring marginal and degraded lands

IV. Eco-restoration of degraded lands for building bio-based economy 13. Eco-restoration of degraded lands for biomass and biofuel production 14. Prospects & promises for suitable and sustainable agricultural practices 15. Developing degraded lands for harnessing various ecosystem and value-added services

V. Policy aspects and framework design for eco-restoration of degraded lands 16. Global policies for current degraded lands exploration and exploitation 17. Policy development and amendments for the eco-restoration of degraded lands 18. Suitable framework design for the eco-restoration of degraded lands 19. Nature-based solutions for restoring degraded lands for sustainable development

IV. Case studies 20. Revisiting land degradation status, management and policy intervention - Indian context 21. Community based restoration of degraded forests in Columbia 22. The effect of fire on land degradation in Australia 23. The effect of coal mining on land degradation in Canada 24. Restoration strategies for degraded land due to emerging pollutants in Kenya 25. Sustainable agricultural practices employed in lesser Himalayan region 26. Forest landscape restoration in Indonesia