8. Sustainable Environmental Biotechnology

In today’s era of rapid globalization, sustainability in the environment has become a priority for world leaders; they affirm their intent to pursue broad range of technologies with the potential to reach the goal of sustainability. Human interferences in terms of their increasing anthropogenic activities, destructive behavior, resource exploitation fueled by growing consumption, and swiftly eroding natural ecosystems are driving us toward an environmental precipice. Today’s environmentalists remain alarmed at the inefficient use of technologies by mankind. Therefore, to cope up with this alarming situation, the recent advances in “biotechnology” played an important role. Some of the defining technologies of modern biotechnology with the probability of attaining the goal of sustainability are included in fields like food production, various industrial and agricultural practices, capturing valuable products from renewable raw materials, energy sources, waste management, and bioremediation. This chapter addresses the challenges ahead and various strategies that can be dealt with to achieve a sustainable environment.