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Anthropogenic activities targeting economic progress have triggered changes in the Earth system processes causing depletion of resources and degradation of ecosystems. Water is a critical natural resource which has been severely impacted through groundwater depletion, surface water contamination and ocean acidification resulting in repercussions on human health and biodiversity losses. Likewise, India, a mega biodiversity nation has been critically affected by degradation and drawdown of water resources with far-reaching consequences on environmental vitality and socio-economic development. In order to prevent extreme water scarcity in the near future, the country needs to promote sustainable utilisation of water resources by adhering to the targets of Goal 6 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs). The present work, therefore, has focussed on the development of a Water Sustainability Index (WSI) for India that would help attaining the targets of SDG 6. A total of 12 indicators categorized under biophysical and social development dimensions and synonymous with the targets of SDG 6 have been used for the formulation of WSI and thereby understanding how much water resources are used annually in a sustainable manner. The study also highlights the interrelationship between the diverse social development and health indicators (SDG 3) of Indian community. The research has the potential to provide guidance for efficient use of water resources in India. Acting as a yardstick and guiding star, the sustainability metric will help the nation to monitor whether it is on the right track and navigate its journey towards achieving water sustainability. It also calls for cautious course correction and restructuring of current Indian policy and operational instruments for effective green governance and sustainable water management.

The land use/land cover change is a local driver of environmental change having cascading impacts and implications at the global level and therefore requires appreciable consideration when perceived from sustainability perspectives. Kerala, the southernmost state of India has undergone a dramatic transition from a traditional agrarian economy to a modern thriving economy involving the irrational exploitation of natural resources, precisely, land and its components. The present study addresses how land is being changed along an urbanization gradient in the most agglomerative city in the state, Kochi, during the last one and half decades. High-resolution remote sensing data available from the Google Earth Engine pertaining to the four time periods, i.e., 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020, representing urban, suburban, and rural areas, were analysed to estimate the changes in land use land cover. A semi-structured interview was conducted at the household level to identify the major drivers of land use change. The results indicated the presence of two major and divergent trends; the first one is the intensification of land use activities at the rate of 1.37% per annum, primarily driven by urbanization and infrastructure developments, and the second one is the fallowing and abandonment of land (at the rate of 0.21% per annum) driven by the increased cost of cultivation and unexpected changes in meteorological events frequently reported in the recent history of Kerala. The rates of change are more prominent in the rural areas while the urban grids are nearing saturation occupying nearly two-third of the area with urban features at the expense of greenery. Though the progression with respect to urbanization and infrastructure developments is expected, the fallowing and abandonment of land is unanticipated, raising serious questions in the developmental pathways to achieve Sustainable Development Goals in the State of Kerala.

Tropical cyclones as natural disturbances, influence ecosystem structure, function and dynamics at the global scale. This study assesses the inundation due to the super cyclone Amphan in coastal districts of eastern India by leveraging the computational power of Google Earth Engine (GEE) and the availability of high resolution Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data. A cloud-based image processing framework was developed and implemented in GEE for classification using Random Forest algorithm. The inundation areas due to storm surge owing to cyclone Amphan, were mapped and further categorised to different land use and land cover classes based on an existing land cover map. Sentinel-1 images were useful in post-cyclone studies for the change detection analysis due to its higher temporal resolution and cloud penetration ability. The study found that the majority of agricultural and agricultural fallow lands were inundated in the coastal districts. The availability of open-source cloud-based data processing platforms provides cost effective way to rapidly gather accurate geospatial information. Such information could be useful for emergency response planning and post-event disaster management including relief, rescue and rehabilitation measures; and crop yield loss assessment. Cyclone and Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) change can have significant impacts on the human population and if both coexist, the consequences for people and the surrounding environment may be severe.

Enhancing the productivity of rainfed crops, especially rice, while coping with climate adversities and saving critical natural resources is essential for ensuring the food and nutrition security of a growing population. With this context, the present study was undertaken to validate promising farm innovation and adaptation practices used by small-medium landholding farmers for rice cultivation in eastern Uttar Pradesh (UP), north India, as well as to examine the sustainability of innovative practices for large-scale adoption. For this, a 3-year study comprising extensive field surveys and experiments was undertaken to compare single transplantation (ST) and double transplantation (DT) in rice along with organic addition (farm-yard manure, FYM) on crop growth, yield, climate resilience, soil quality, and overall sustainability i.e., social (women involvements and labour productivity), environmental (water productivity and nutrient use efficiency), and economic (benefit:cost ratio) dimensions of sustainability. Field experiments were conducted in triplicate using two local rice varieties (MotiNP-360 and Sampurna Kaveri) in two agroclimatic zones, namely the middle Gangetic plains and the Vindhyan zone, in the Mirzapur district of eastern Uttar Pradesh. The DT practices of rice with and without farm yard manure (FYM) (replacing at a dose of 25% NPK) were evaluated over conventional methods of rice cultivation (i.e., ST, as control) and analysis was done periodically. The DT practice improved growth (p 0.05), percent fertile tiller and grain (p 0.05), and rice yield (15-20% higher than ST), while also improving soil quality, yield indices, water and labour productivity, and the benefit-cost ratio. The DT practice also resulted in early maturity (10-15 days earlier than ST), created more labour days for women, decreased lodging and pest/disease incidence, as well as a subsequent reduction in the use of synthetic chemical pesticides and associated environmental costs. Importantly, the residual effects of FYM application significantly improved (p 0.05) the grain yield in subsequent years of cropping. Optimizing DT cultivation practices, preferably with FYM input for various agro-climatic regions, is essential for large-scale sustainable rice production under changing climatic conditions.

Soil and land are critical common pool resources offering a multitude of ecosystem services (ES) and presently affected by degradation and unplanned exploitation. The present article therefore attempts to elucidate the importance of circular economy in boosting land restoration and realization of several sustainable development goals through efficient waste recycling and clean energy production from degraded lands combined with policy restructuring for aligning circularity with restoration. Integrative policy frameworks targeting a “sustainable restoration economy” can help improve the cost feasibility of restoration projects through circularization of resource value chains besides enhancing social welfare and ecological vitality.

Exploring the ‘Safe Operating Space’ of nations are important for devising suitable strategies for the effectual implementation of UN-Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs). In this context, the present study attempts to ascertain the environmental and social challenges hindering sustainable development (SD) in India along with linking these challenges to the SDGs and policy mechanisms in place for their alleviation. Environmental issues were determined by down-scaling the planetary boundaries (PB) to national scales while the social issues were highlighted in terms of their deprivation rates fixing the possession rates for all indicators at hundred percent. An in-depth analysis of available literature and scoping of national reports and databases were undertaken for the determination of national boundaries and the retrieval of values against the selected indicators, respectively. Furthermore, the existing policies and national missions were critically assessed to establish the linkages between existing challenges, SDGs and government policies. Results obtained highlighted gender inequality and severely stressed biocapacity as well as land use change as the major social and environmental issues, respectively. However, indicator based statistics compiled for rural India showed improved possession rates in the sanitation and electricity sectors thereby signifying the progress achieved by the country in these fronts. Analysis of policy frameworks revealed the existence of multiple interconnections between the SDG targets and environmental and social dimensions and thereby highlighting the role of governance for SD. A national policy for ‘Safe Habitat and Sustainable Environment’ along with several policy recommendations such as exploring the potential of education and research for SD were proposed for boosting the sustainability governance in India.

Land degradation across the world has resulted in an unprecedented decline of ecosystem services, affecting the livelihood of 3.2 billion people globally. Sustainable land management is essential to protect our finite land resources from over-exploitation and degradation. Therefore, the present article was aimed to analyze the impacts of various national and international policies on current and future land restoration scenarios in India. A spatially explicit model (CLUMondo) was employed to predict scenarios, i.e., the 'business as usual' (BU) and 'sustainable restoration' (SR) by 2030. Though the results showed an increasing trend in land degradation , i.e., from 44.28 to 49.74 Mha during the period of 2005-15, a slight decrease was observed in 2019 (49.24 Mha), suggesting a net increase of 11.21% during the 2005-19 period. However, an increase in forest cover by 5.08% under existing policy targets overtook the degradation rate by restoration initiatives. The net decline in degraded land area by 1% with an increased forest cover by 1.83% observed during the 2015-19 periods reflected the positive impact of various national and global policies on existing restoration ventures in India. Our modeled results (weighted AUC = 0.87) also suggested an increase in forest cover by 6.9% and 9.9% under BU and SR scenarios, respectively. Under the BU scenario, degraded land will be restored up to 12.1 Mha; however, 6.27 Mha of these lands will be converted to cropland for food production. Importantly, a decrease in grasslands by 35.1% under the BU scenario warrants the urgency to maintain the integrity of such ecological systems. However, the SR scenario showed an increase in grasslands by 8.9%, with an overall restoration of degraded land up to 18.31 Mha. Moreover, a reduced cropland expansion rate of 1% suggested an effective land management response. While our results may have some uncertainties due to the model limitations, they can still be used for framing suitable land management policies to facilitate sustainable land restoration programs in India.

Microorganisms are the key players in every agro-ecosystem. They are the natural inhabitants of all the soil and plant systems, in which they represent dominant presence in terms of their vast diversity and multipronged functional capabilities. Multifarious physical, chemical and biological factors usually represent good soil fertility status as a guaranty of sustainable agro-ecology, plant health and crop productivity. Since healthy soils are largely characterized by their profound biological and chemical behavior, microbial functionalities related to nutrient fixation, recycling, acquisition, sequestration, solubilization, mobilization, decomposition, degradation and remediation may act as definitive indicators. Functional capabilities of microbial communities associated with soils and plant parts have been critically identified and characterized in the past few decades. Application of individual microbes or their consortia in many crops established their role in finding out a supplement and/or substitute in the existing agricultural practices which are largely dependent on synthetic chemical inputs in present time. We are presenting here a detailed account of microbial community functions, their relation with the soil and plant health and the potential indicative roles they play to establish a sustainable soil ecological environment for supporting crop growth, development and yield in long term.

Calotropis procera is a perennial big shrub that has the potential to accumulate high concentrations of heavy metals. Metal sequestration in old organs has been considered as a mechanism for plant ...

Rapidly increasing global human population has led to the intensive land use change, and the over exploitation of soil resources resulting in the diminished soil health, ecosystem services, and human well-being. Depriving nutrients from the soil systems due unsustainable practices has further led to low productivity and quality of the crop yields. As a result, it led to the scarcity of the food with limiting nutrients reflecting various nutrient deficiencies and human health disorders. Therefore, it is the need of the hour to restore the health of our soil resources for improving the food and nutrition secuirty of present as well as future generations. In this backdrop, the present chapter is aimed to discuss the drivers of soil degradation, highlight the impact of soil degradation on human health and suggests various adaptive practices to maintain the soil health while improving the quality of crop yield for environmental sustainability and human health.

International audience

Restoration of marginal and degraded lands is essential for regaining biodiversity and ecosystems services, and thereby attaining UN-Sustainable Development Goals. During the last few decades, many fast growing and hardy trees have been introduced worldwide to restore the marginal and degraded lands for ecosystem stability. Unfortunately, most of these introduced species have become invasive and invaded the nearby productive systems, leading to significant biodiversity loss and land degradation. Therefore, it is imperative to conduct a sustainability analysis of the introduced species for necessary course correction and also for preventing the future utilisation of such species for land restoration. With this backdrop, the present study was conducted to analyse the socio-ecological impacts of a widely used species, i.e., Prosopis juliflora (Sw.) DC based restoration of degraded land of Lucknow, North India. For this, ecological (soil quality and plant biodiversity) and social (livelihood) indicators have been studied over a period of two years (2015&ndash, 16) through direct field sampling and questionnaire-based surveys. While there was a positive difference (p &lt, 0.01) in the key physico-chemical properties of the P. juliflora-invaded soil than the non-invaded site, the belowground microbial load was significantly lower (19.46 &times, 106 g&minus, 1 of soil) in invaded land as compared to the non-invaded one (31.01 &times, 1). Additionally, the invasion of P. juliflora had significantly reduced the biodiversity by displacing the local flora such as Achyranthes aspera L., Amaranthus spinosus L., Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers, Euphorbia hirta L., etc. The invaded area had only eight plant species having an effective number of species (ENS) of 7.2, whereas the non-invaded area had the presence of 26 plant species with an ENS of 23.8. Although the local people utilised P. juliflora as fuelwood mostly during summer and winter seasons, the invasion resulted in a fodder deficit of 419.97 kg household&minus, 1 y&minus, 1 leading to resource scarcity in the invaded area in comparison to the non-invaded area. Ecodistribution mapping clearly showed that P. juliflora is already found in most of the tropical and subtropical countries (~103) including in India and has become invasive in many countries. Therefore, we recommend that P. juliflora must be wisely used for the land restoration programs targeted during the United Nations Decade of Ecosystem Restoration (2021&ndash, 2030) as this species has invasive traits and thereby reduces the ecosystem sustainability of the invaded areas.

Soil pollution and degradation remains an important environmental issue and its remediation, a global challenge. The degrading soil resource across the world, significantly impact agricultural productivity, food security as well as human well-being and therefore require immediate attention. As the demands of food production for the burgeoning human population rise, so does the exploitation and degradation of soil and land to meet these demands. Further the contamination of soil with heavy metals, pesticides, and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) adds to this global crisis. Soil polluted with these chemicals poses greater risk of food chain contamination due to the bioaccumulation potential of these pollutants. Agricultural productivity is seriously afflicted by both the pressure of producing more food and the challenge of preventing further soil degradation. Nanoenabled remediation of soil might provide a sustainable solution for revitalizing the tarnished soil resources. Nanotechnology-based applications are cost efficient and simple to use and imply on more effective treatment and remediation methods that may considerably reduce soil pollution. This chapter is aimed at examining the prospects of nanotechnology-based remediation of soil contaminated with heavy metals, pesticides, their residues, and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) alongside exploring its roles in enhancing phytoremediation and bioremediation.

Managing agroecosystem via innovative agricultural practices and climate adaptive strategies is indeed a much-needed intervention to maximize the food production for feeding an ever-increasing human population. Also, such practises are essential for overcoming macro/micro nutrients deficiencies, hidden hunger and malnutrition. In this backdrop, the present chapter exemplifies various adaptive agricultural interventions that are vital in changing climatic conditions to maximize the food production for global sustainability. For an instance, adaptive practices to enhance major cereal productivity, improve soil quality, efficient use of water in agriculture, sustainable utilization of land, conserving lesser utilized pseudo cereals, green leaf’s, vegetables, fruits and tubers, etc. are specifically conferred in this chapter. These interventions are imperative for agricultural sustainability and also to enhance the income and livelihood of smallest- to medium-scale farmers in many developing nations. Overall, large-scale adoption of listed climate adaptive measures herein, would also significantly contribute in meeting various national and global sustainable development goals and their targets set for year 2030.

Wild relatives of cultivated plants are the treasure trove of genetic resources for crop improvement and dietary diversification. Especially, they are crucial for conferring diseases resistance and abiotic stress tolerance (such as drought, flood, heat-shock, salinity, etc.) in cultivated crops and thereby breeding next generation of climate smart crops (i.e. climate resilient crops) for futuristic climatic conditions. Unfortunately, most of the wild relatives of crop plants across the world are being neglected and underutilized, without recognizing its real potential. In this backdrop, the book herein review titled “Wild Relatives of Cultivated Plants in India: A Reservoir of Alternative Genetic Resources and More”, authored by Anurudh Kumar Singh, National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi, India is a timely and topical endeavor to provide a vivid account of more than 958 species of wild relatives of cultivated plants in India along with their occurrence, distribution, current status, as well as their future potential for breeding program and dietary diversification. Moreover, the author has also explored the additional utility of such crop species for ecosystem restoration, phytoremediation and soil carbon sequestration in detail. Here we distill the essence of this 309-page book for the better comprehension and understanding for a wide range of potential readers like graduate students and doctoral researchers in agricultural and environmental sciences, agronomist, plant breeders, as well as various national and international policy makers and regulatory agencies.

Exploration and sustainable utilization of wild crops are essential for the dietary diversification and also for ensuring the nutritional requirements of growing human population. In this background, the present study was undertaken to evaluate the occurrence, distribution and habitat characterization of two underutilized perennial leafy vegetables of Basellaceae, i.e., Basella alba and Basella rubra, commonly called as Indian spinach or Malabar spinach. For this, extensive field surveys and habitat analysis have been conducted in selected districts of North and West India and national and global distribution maps were prepared based on the available literature. The habitat analysis clearly indicates that Basella species can luxuriously grow in diverse soil conditions (i.e., from acid to alkaline conditions and also in degraded and nutrient poor soils). However, the fresh leaves and stems of both Basella species are rich in protein, vitamin A, vitamin C, Ca, Fe, Mg, P, K, Na, Zn, Cu, Mn and Se and also having essential amino acids and flavones. It can be directly used in salads or can be used as a standalone vegetable for making soups, stews, steamed and oil fried items. In India, it is also being used to make snacks (pakoda). Though it was widely cultivated in Southeast Asia and China since ancient times, it is being gradually neglected and replaced by other greens. Owing to its adaptability to grow luxuriously in hot and humid tropical climate, it can be exploited as a promising leafy vegetable for the warming climatic conditions. However, suitable agronomic practices and crop improvement programs are necessary for improving the adaptability and nutritional quality of Basella species.

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.

Ensuring the food and nutritional demand of the ever-growing human population is a major sustainability challenge for humanity in this Anthropocene. The cultivation of climate resilient, adaptive and underutilized wild crops along with modern crop varieties is proposed as an innovative strategy for managing future agricultural production under the changing environmental conditions. Such underutilized and neglected wild crops have been recently projected by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations as ‘future smart crops’ as they are not only hardy, and resilient to changing climatic conditions, but also rich in nutrients. They need only minimal care and input, and therefore, they can be easily grown in degraded and nutrient-poor soil also. Moreover, they can be used for improving the adaptive traits of modern crops. The contribution of such neglected, and underutilized crops and their wild relatives to global food production is estimated to be around 115−120 billion US$ per annum. Therefore, the exploitation of such lesser utilized and yet to be used wild crops is highly significant for climate resilient agriculture and thereby providing a good quality of life to one and all. Here we provide four steps, namely: (i) exploring the unexplored, (ii) refining the unrefined traits, (iii) cultivating the uncultivated, and (iv) popularizing the unpopular for the sustainable utilization of such wild crops as a resilient strategy for ensuring food and nutritional security and also urge the timely adoption of suitable frameworks for the large-scale exploitation of such wild species for achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Soil metagenomic analysis was previously limited by technological restrictions and the few reference genomes. The advent of next-generation ‘omics’ technologies has provided high-throughput methods for analysing community structure and reconstructing soil metagenomes. High-throughput sequencing technology and single-cell genomics have revolutionized metagenomic analysis by enabling large-scale sequencing at reduced sequencing costs with less time required. In the present chapter we discuss various technological advances in metagenomics, their processes and the methods of data analysis, and metagenomic success stories under various environments that can be applied for studying the functional and structural diversity of soil microorganisms.

Belowground microbial processes are at the helm of terrestrial ecosystem functions, and the enormous diversity of soil microorganisms acts as a key player. Thus, understanding the community dynamics of microorganisms in the soil is essential to know their distribution, abundance, and structure. Further, it is also important to know how these communities are shaped in structure and function in response to changes in space and time. Various microbial diversity analysis methods—fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, terminal restriction fragment length polymorphisms, and the automated version of ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis, RISA (ARISA)—have been developed to analyse the diversity of soil microorganisms based on their genetic structure. However, methods such as phospholipid and fatty acid analysis utilise the differences in lipid components of the microbial cell membrane to analyse their diversity. In the present chapter, we explore the conventional methods of soil microbial diversity analysis.

One of the key functions of soil microorganisms is to promote plant health and increase soil productivity. Some indigenous microorganisms of contaminated soil systems also have the capability to degrade the soil contaminants, and thus are frequently used in bioremediation purposes. Most of these microbes belong to the category of plant growth-promoting microorganisms, which perform various functions including providing nutrients to the plants, conferring disease resistance, and combating temperature, salinity, and other abiotic stresses. These microbes also support the growth of plants in degraded and contaminated soil systems, aiding phyto-remediation. In coming decades, food security and climate change are expected to be the most serious problems for the planet Earth. Plant growth-promoting microorganisms can provide a sustainable solution to these problems by increasing the production of crop plants, and reducing the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, thus decreasing agricultural pollution. The enormous diversity of soil microorganisms gives an excellent opportunity for exploring new plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria; however, only 1% of the total soil microorganisms are culturable in nature, so the majority of the promising strains remain unexplored. The advent of the novel ‘omic’ technologies provides an excellent opportunity to harness this potential of the belowground microbial world.

Metagenomic approaches aid in exploring the structural and functional diversity of soil microorganisms. Sequence analysis of the large amount of data generated from soil microbial communities sequencing is a challenging issue. It is made feasible through bioinformatics tools, which provide sequence pipelines for the high-throughput screening of the soil metagenomic libraries. Such sequence analysis of metagenomic datasets reveals the genetic structure, gene prediction, proposed functions, and metabolic pathways of the analyzed microbial communities. Bioinformatic tools provide statistical procedures not only for comparison of metagenomic libraries but also to report the sampling and library creation artifacts. Here we discuss the bioinformatics tools for accessing the metagenomic information and platforms for data storage within databases (GenBank env), access, synthesis, and analysis.

Harnessing the potential of the microbiome can provide cleaner and greener solutions to various environmental challenges. Globally, microbiome research is a continuously evolving field, with researchers aiming to explore the structural and functional characteristics of the microbiomes in various environmental compartments. Still, there are various system-level knowledge gaps in microbiome research. Therefore, unravelling the complex and dynamic microbial crosstalk in the soil system and the multitrophic interactions will certainly provide new impetus for harnessing the real potential of the soil microbiome for multipurpose environmental benefits.

Adaptive agricultural practices are essential for maintaining the agricultural production under changing climatic conditions. While most of the farmers have already developed many field-level innovations, its validation and scaling-ups are essential for large-scale exploitation. Current chapter describes various policy measures for the wide-scale adoption of adaptive agricultural practices.

Agronomic practices play a major role in enhancing the productivity of agricultural crops. However, such agronomic practices under changing climatic condition is not adequate to enhance crop production as the changing climatic conditions are reported to negatively affect crop growth, yield, soil quality and thereby the nutritional quality of agricultural produce. Furthermore, maintaining critical resources including water is a challenging task under changing climatic conditions. Therefore, the wise adoption of various adaptive, specifically resource-conserving agricultural practices such as intercropping, crop rotation, agroforestry, mixed crop-livestock farming, mulching, and the push–pull system of crop pest and disease management etc. are imperative to cope-up with such adverse situations. The present chapter describes such agronomic practices and their benefits in detail.