The Environment: Towards a Sustainable Future
The Environment: Towards a Sustainable Future

Author: Dutch Committee for Long-Term Environmental Policy

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 608

ISBN-13: 9401108080

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A sustainable future: a world in which sustainable development is possible and guaranteed? In this book, the Dutch Committee for Long-Term Environmental Policy, an expert advisory board to the Dutch Minister of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment, shows possible ways in which society can move towards a sustainable future. The book goes in search of a new social order, an order in which sustainability is guaranteed. This search holds four main elements: signs of hope: which positive initiatives and developments exist which will lead to a sustainable future? transformations: which transformations are needed to reach a sustainable future? philosophical and methodological reflections: can one predict the future? institutions: what are the necessary changes in the basic institutions of society to reach a sustainable future? The committee has invited well-known experts from different disciplinary backgrounds to check the existing social order from a point of sustainability and to give recommendations for a sustainable future. The central conclusion is that we are in need of an evolving green strategy aimed at sustainability. The contours of this strategy are described and a large set of recommendations to reach a sustainable future are given. As the committee states: `There is no certainty and no statistical probability for a sustainable future, but there is at least a chance.'

Wild Food Plants for Zero Hunger and Resilient Agriculture
Wild Food Plants for Zero Hunger and Resilient Agriculture

Author: Ajay Kumar

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2023-04-03

Total Pages: 393

ISBN-13: 9811965021

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The edited volume brings out a comprehensive collection of information relevant to wild food plants, their importance for global sustainable food security, future-readiness, and resilient agriculture. The book's primary focus is to cover topics on the diversity of wild food plants across the globe, their nutraceutical importance, production-consumption trends, integration into the current food menu, and marketing and livelihood opportunities to the indigenous people. Sustainable development goals 1, 2, and 3 are significant for a poverty-free, hunger-free world and ensure good health and wellbeing of the people, respectively. The three goals are important and interlinked as achieving zero poverty will help reduce hunger among the people. Availability of nutritional and balanced food ensures good health. Wild food plants are an essential part of a nourishing and healthy diet for indigenous communities. They are globally collected from natural habitats or cultivated at more minor scales. Although consumed locally, they are an essential part of the diets of tribal and indigenous communities worldwide and hold immense potential to alleviate global hunger. Considering their importance for global sustainable food security, it is essential to clearly understand the future role of wild food plants for future readiness and resilient agriculture. Therefore, this book provides a piece of important information on these aspects. The book is a valuable resource for the audience ranging from undergraduate science students to the NGOs and institutions involved in poverty alleviation programs, policymakers, dieticians, horticulturists, plant breeders, farmers, health experts, and food enthusiasts.

Relevance and Sustainability of Wild Plant Collection in NW South America
Relevance and Sustainability of Wild Plant Collection in NW South America

Author: Grischa Brokamp

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2015-01-15

Total Pages: 205

ISBN-13: 3658086963

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This study focuses on understanding the socio-economic relevance of plant resources collected from the wild and its relation to current patterns of trade and sustainability. Grischa Brokamp reviews and analyzes the current extent of palm trade in northwestern South America, its impact, limitations and future perspective. Indeed there are conflicts between the commercialization of wild plant resources and the conservation of exploited species, which is illustrated by examples from the plant families Arecaceae and Krameriaceae.

Innovations in Biotechnology for a Sustainable Future
Innovations in Biotechnology for a Sustainable Future

Author: Naga Raju Maddela

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2021-10-23

Total Pages: 455

ISBN-13: 303080108X

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This contributed volume compiles the latest improvements in the field of biotechnology. It focuses on topics that comprises industrial, environment, agricultural and medical related issues to technology and biological studies and exhibits the correlation between the biological world and the dependence of humans on it. The book is organized into five parts covering the role of biotechnology in industrial products, environmental remediation, agriculture and pharmacological agents. Ranging from micro-scale studies to macro, it covers a huge domain of agricultural biotechnology and focuses on important commercial crops (e.g. cacao and coffee), arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, flow and distribution of phosphorus in agricultural soils in the Latin American region. Overall, the book portrays the importance of modern biotechnology and its role in solving the problems in modern day life. The book is a ready reference for practicing students, researchers of environmental engineering, chemical engineering, agricultural engineering, and other allied fields likewise.

A Way to Garden
A Way to Garden

Author: Margaret Roach

Publisher: Timber Press

Published: 2019-04-30

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 1604698772

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“A Way to Garden prods us toward that ineffable place where we feel we belong; it’s a guide to living both in and out of the garden.” —The New York Times Book Review For Margaret Roach, gardening is more than a hobby, it’s a calling. Her unique approach, which she calls “horticultural how-to and woo-woo,” is a blend of vital information you need to memorize and intuitive steps you must simply feel and surrender to. In A Way to Garden, Roach imparts decades of garden wisdom on seasonal gardening, ornamental plants, vegetable gardening, design, gardening for wildlife, organic practices, and much more. She also challenges gardeners to think beyond their garden borders and to consider the ways gardening can enrich the world. Brimming with beautiful photographs of Roach’s own garden, A Way to Garden is practical, inspiring, and a must-have for every passionate gardener.

In Defense of Plants
In Defense of Plants

Author: Matt Candeias

Publisher: Mango Media Inc.

Published: 2021-03-16

Total Pages: 297

ISBN-13: 1642504548

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The Study of Plants in a Whole New Light “Matt Candeias succeeds in evoking the wonder of plants with wit and wisdom.” ―James T. Costa, PhD, executive director, Highlands Biological Station and author of Darwin's Backyard #1 New Release in Nature & Ecology, Plants, Botany, Horticulture, Trees, Biological Sciences, and Nature Writing & Essays In his debut book, internationally-recognized blogger and podcaster Matt Candeias celebrates the nature of plants and the extraordinary world of plant organisms. A botanist’s defense. Since his early days of plant restoration, this amateur plant scientist has been enchanted with flora and the greater environmental ecology of the planet. Now, he looks at the study of plants through the lens of his ever-growing houseplant collection. Using gardening, houseplants, and examples of plants around you, In Defense of Plants changes your relationship with the world from the comfort of your windowsill. The ruthless, horny, and wonderful nature of plants. Understand how plants evolve and live on Earth with a never-before-seen look into their daily drama. Inside, Candeias explores the incredible ways plants live, fight, have sex, and conquer new territory. Whether a blossoming botanist or a professional plant scientist, In Defense of Plants is for anyone who sees plants as more than just static backdrops to more charismatic life forms. In this easily accessible introduction to the incredible world of plants, you’ll find: • Fantastic botanical histories and plant symbolism • Passionate stories of flora diversity and scientific names of plant organisms • Personal tales of plantsman discovery through the study of plants If you enjoyed books like The Botany of Desire, What a Plant Knows, or The Soul of an Octopus, then you’ll love In Defense of Plants.

Biostimulants in Agriculture II: Towards a Sustainable Future
Biostimulants in Agriculture II: Towards a Sustainable Future

Author: Maurizio Ruzzi

Publisher: Frontiers Media SA

Published: 2024-06-11

Total Pages: 1221

ISBN-13: 2832550177

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Modern agriculture needs to review and broaden its practices and business models, by integrating opportunities coming from different adjacent sectors and value chains, including the bio-based industry, in a fully circular economy strategy. Searching for new tools and technologies to increase crop productivity under optimal and sub-optimal conditions and to improve resources use efficiency is crucial to ensure food security while preserving soil quality, microbial biodiversity, and providing business opportunities for farmers. Biostimulants based on microorganisms or organic substances obtained from renewable materials represent a sustainable, efficient technology or complement to synthetic counterparts, to improve nutrient use efficiency and secure crop yield stability. Under the new European Union Regulation 2019/1009, plant biostimulants were defined based on four agricultural functional claims as follows: Plant biostimulants are products that stimulate plant nutrition processes independently of the product's nutrient content with the sole aim of improving one or more of the following characteristics of the plant and/or the plant rhizosphere: 1) nutrient use efficiency, 2) tolerance resistance to (a)biotic stress, 3) quality characteristics or 4) availability of confined nutrients in the soil or rhizosphere’. Many diverse natural substances and chemical derivatives of natural or synthetic compounds, as well as beneficial microorganisms, are cataloged as plant biostimulants including i) humic substances, ii) plant or animal-based protein hydrolysates, iii) macro and micro-algal extracts, iv) silicon, v) arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and vi) plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) belonging to the Azotobacter, Azospirillum and Rhizobium genera.