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Dr. Purushothaman Chirakkuzhyil Abhilash
Banaras Hindu University

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0 Sustainable Agriculture
0 Sustainable Development Goals
0 Agricultural sustainability
0 agrobiodiversity
0 Land restoration

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Climate Resilient agriculture
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Regular article
Published: 01 August 2021 in Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science
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Background Climate and management practices impact the soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks of agricultural soils. Especially under the semiarid climate of India, organic matter is rapidly decomposed, and imbalanced nutrient input further exacerbates its depletion, thus facilitating the decline in soil quality and crop yields. Improving SOC contents through integrated nutrient management (INM), that is, conjunctive use of organic and chemical sources of nutrients, could ameliorate soil health and sustain crop yields. Aim To assess the potential of the INM approach to enhance the SOC status, soil quality, crop production, and drought adaptation of pearl millet under rainfed conditions. Methods Nutrient inputs were supplied through mineral fertilizers, organic manures, and a combination of both. SOC sequestration, sustainable yield index, plant-available N, P, K, and water, bulk density, and KMnO4-oxidizable C were estimated. Results Higher SOC sequestration rate (0.50 and 0.48 Mg ha−1 y−1 in 50% N (fertilizer) + 50% N (farmyard manure), and 50% N (fertilizer) + 50% N (crop residue), respectively) and significant increase in soil fertility were recorded in organically amended treatments. Improvement of 1 Mg ha−1 of SOC stock in the root zone (0.4 m depth) reduced the severity of drought and increased the yield by 38 kg ha−1. Plots under organic amendments suffered less yield losses under short-duration droughts, but this positive effect could only be exploited when the rainfall deficit was up to 25%. Conclusion Managements that add up to 1.2 Mg ha−1 y−1 SOC are adaptive and climate-resilient strategies in dry semiarid degraded Inceptisols of the Indo-Gangetic Plains.

ACS Style

Ch. Srinivasarao; S. P. Singh; Sumanta Kundu; Vikas Abrol; Rattan Lal; P. C. Abhilash; G. R. Chary; Pravin B. Thakur; J. V. N. S. Prasad; B. Venkateswarlu. Integrated nutrient management improves soil organic matter and agronomic sustainability of semiarid rainfed Inceptisols of the Indo‐Gangetic Plains. Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science 2021, 1 .

AMA Style

Ch. Srinivasarao, S. P. Singh, Sumanta Kundu, Vikas Abrol, Rattan Lal, P. C. Abhilash, G. R. Chary, Pravin B. Thakur, J. V. N. S. Prasad, B. Venkateswarlu. Integrated nutrient management improves soil organic matter and agronomic sustainability of semiarid rainfed Inceptisols of the Indo‐Gangetic Plains. Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science. 2021; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ch. Srinivasarao; S. P. Singh; Sumanta Kundu; Vikas Abrol; Rattan Lal; P. C. Abhilash; G. R. Chary; Pravin B. Thakur; J. V. N. S. Prasad; B. Venkateswarlu. 2021. "Integrated nutrient management improves soil organic matter and agronomic sustainability of semiarid rainfed Inceptisols of the Indo‐Gangetic Plains." Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science , no. : 1.

Chapter
Published: 31 July 2021 in Soil Science: Fundamentals to Recent Advances
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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.

ACS Style

Sheikh Adil Edrisi; Amitava Rakshit; Pradeep K. Dubey; P. C. Abhilash; S. K. Singh; Ashok K. Patra; Himanshu Pathak. Managing Soil Resources for Human Health and Environmental Sustainability. Soil Science: Fundamentals to Recent Advances 2021, 3 -11.

AMA Style

Sheikh Adil Edrisi, Amitava Rakshit, Pradeep K. Dubey, P. C. Abhilash, S. K. Singh, Ashok K. Patra, Himanshu Pathak. Managing Soil Resources for Human Health and Environmental Sustainability. Soil Science: Fundamentals to Recent Advances. 2021; ():3-11.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Sheikh Adil Edrisi; Amitava Rakshit; Pradeep K. Dubey; P. C. Abhilash; S. K. Singh; Ashok K. Patra; Himanshu Pathak. 2021. "Managing Soil Resources for Human Health and Environmental Sustainability." Soil Science: Fundamentals to Recent Advances , no. : 3-11.

Editorial
Published: 27 July 2021 in Anthropocene Science
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ACS Style

Purushothaman C. Abhilash; Simone Bastianoni; Weiqiang Chen; Ruth DeFries; Leonardo F. Fraceto; Neven S. Fuckar; Shizuka Hashimoto; Danny Hunter; Saskia Keesstra; Othmane Merah; Patrick O’Farrell; Prajal Pradhan; Simron Singh; Pete Smith; Lindsay C. Stringer; B. L. Turner. Introducing ‘Anthropocene Science’: A New International Journal for Addressing Human Impact on the Resilience of Planet Earth. Anthropocene Science 2021, 1 -4.

AMA Style

Purushothaman C. Abhilash, Simone Bastianoni, Weiqiang Chen, Ruth DeFries, Leonardo F. Fraceto, Neven S. Fuckar, Shizuka Hashimoto, Danny Hunter, Saskia Keesstra, Othmane Merah, Patrick O’Farrell, Prajal Pradhan, Simron Singh, Pete Smith, Lindsay C. Stringer, B. L. Turner. Introducing ‘Anthropocene Science’: A New International Journal for Addressing Human Impact on the Resilience of Planet Earth. Anthropocene Science. 2021; ():1-4.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Purushothaman C. Abhilash; Simone Bastianoni; Weiqiang Chen; Ruth DeFries; Leonardo F. Fraceto; Neven S. Fuckar; Shizuka Hashimoto; Danny Hunter; Saskia Keesstra; Othmane Merah; Patrick O’Farrell; Prajal Pradhan; Simron Singh; Pete Smith; Lindsay C. Stringer; B. L. Turner. 2021. "Introducing ‘Anthropocene Science’: A New International Journal for Addressing Human Impact on the Resilience of Planet Earth." Anthropocene Science , no. : 1-4.

Research article
Published: 13 July 2021 in Tropical Ecology
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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.

ACS Style

Mukunda Dev Behera; Jaya Prakash; Somnath Paramanik; Sujoy Mudi; Jadunandan Dash; Roma Varghese; Partha Sarathi Roy; P. C. Abhilash; Anil Kumar Gupta; Prashant Kumar Srivastava. Assessment of tropical cyclone amphan affected inundation areas using sentinel-1 satellite data. Tropical Ecology 2021, 1 -11.

AMA Style

Mukunda Dev Behera, Jaya Prakash, Somnath Paramanik, Sujoy Mudi, Jadunandan Dash, Roma Varghese, Partha Sarathi Roy, P. C. Abhilash, Anil Kumar Gupta, Prashant Kumar Srivastava. Assessment of tropical cyclone amphan affected inundation areas using sentinel-1 satellite data. Tropical Ecology. 2021; ():1-11.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Mukunda Dev Behera; Jaya Prakash; Somnath Paramanik; Sujoy Mudi; Jadunandan Dash; Roma Varghese; Partha Sarathi Roy; P. C. Abhilash; Anil Kumar Gupta; Prashant Kumar Srivastava. 2021. "Assessment of tropical cyclone amphan affected inundation areas using sentinel-1 satellite data." Tropical Ecology , no. : 1-11.

Journal article
Published: 13 April 2021 in Current Research in Environmental Sustainability
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Agriculture is central to overall development of humankind and plays a decisive role in the timely realization of several UN-Sustainable Development Goals. Nevertheless, agriculture is the largest nonpoint source of pollution primarily due to rampant use of agrochemicals, and contributes ~34% of the annual greenhouse gases emission globally. Agricultural practices are also one of the major drivers of global biodiversity loss, and exerts a heavy footprint on water amounting to 70% of the world's freshwater withdrawal annually. As per projections of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, agricultural production has to be doubled by the year 2050 to feed a global population of ~9.7 billion. However, this intensification must be done in an ecological way (not at the cost of planetary resilience) while designing novel strategies to reinforce agriculture's crucial role in achieving Global Goals. Hence, the notion of ‘planet friendly agriculture’ wherein food production has to be achieved within the planetary boundaries is getting global priority as a transitional as well as transformative solution for improving the wellbeing of people while safeguarding life-supporting systems of a heavily polluted, overexploited and resource crunched planet. This graphical review aimed to portray various planet friendly farming practices based on resource conservation and replenishment to strengthen food and nutrition security of the current and future generation while reducing pollution, greenhouse gases emission, biodiversity loss, and water footprint, even under changing climatic conditions.

ACS Style

Pradeep Kumar Dubey; Ajeet Singh; Rajan Chaurasia; Krishna Kumar Pandey; Amit Kumar Bundela; Rama Kant Dubey; Purushothaman Chirakkuzhyil Abhilash. Planet friendly agriculture: Farming for people and the planet. Current Research in Environmental Sustainability 2021, 3, 100041 .

AMA Style

Pradeep Kumar Dubey, Ajeet Singh, Rajan Chaurasia, Krishna Kumar Pandey, Amit Kumar Bundela, Rama Kant Dubey, Purushothaman Chirakkuzhyil Abhilash. Planet friendly agriculture: Farming for people and the planet. Current Research in Environmental Sustainability. 2021; 3 ():100041.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Pradeep Kumar Dubey; Ajeet Singh; Rajan Chaurasia; Krishna Kumar Pandey; Amit Kumar Bundela; Rama Kant Dubey; Purushothaman Chirakkuzhyil Abhilash. 2021. "Planet friendly agriculture: Farming for people and the planet." Current Research in Environmental Sustainability 3, no. : 100041.

Journal article
Published: 02 April 2021 in Global Food Security
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The COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted the development trajectories of several world economies with India being no exception. The country presently is the second worst affected in terms of total infections despite inducing a nationwide lockdown in the initial stages. In addition to curtailing infection spread, ensuring food security during and post pandemic is a major concern for the country owing to the high percentage of stunting and undernourishment already present and a relatively high proportion of vulnerable workforce with no regular source of income amidst the lockdown. The present article therefore ascertains the impact of the pandemic on the food systems which can potentially affect food security in the country as well as the government introduced reforms and policy measures to tackle them. Following the analysis, we suggest measures like digitally enhancing connectivity of neighbourhood retail or ‘Kirana’ stores in urban and rural areas, distribution of therapeutic foods and immune supplements among the impoverished societal sections through existing government schemes and promotion of ‘planetary healthy diets’ for overcoming food-insecurity while increasing nutrition security and ensuring long term food sector sustainability.

ACS Style

Priya Priyadarshini; Purushothaman Chirakkuzhyil Abhilash. Agri-food systems in India: Concerns and policy recommendations for building resilience in post COVID-19 pandemic times. Global Food Security 2021, 29, 100537 .

AMA Style

Priya Priyadarshini, Purushothaman Chirakkuzhyil Abhilash. Agri-food systems in India: Concerns and policy recommendations for building resilience in post COVID-19 pandemic times. Global Food Security. 2021; 29 ():100537.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Priya Priyadarshini; Purushothaman Chirakkuzhyil Abhilash. 2021. "Agri-food systems in India: Concerns and policy recommendations for building resilience in post COVID-19 pandemic times." Global Food Security 29, no. : 100537.

Journal article
Published: 23 February 2021 in Agronomy
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Global agricultural production is accountable for the emission of ~30% of greenhouse gases. Therefore, the wide-scale adoptions of low-input, soil-friendly, and resource-conserving agronomic practices are imperative for the ‘planet healthy food production’ and also for reducing the carbon emissions from agricultural soil. In this context, the present study aimed to analyze the impacts of integrated agronomic interventions i.e., the application of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) + reduced tillage (RT), biochar + RT, and AMF + biochar + RT, on spatiotemporal variations in soil-quality and soil-sustainability indicators, including microbial and soil respiration, in the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) of North India. For this, field experiments on the above-mentioned agronomic interventions were employed using three different staple crops (Zea mays, Vigna mungo, and Brassica juncea) growing in three different agro-climatic zones of IGP (Varanasi, Sultanpur, and Gorakhpur) in a randomized block design. Periodic data collection was done to analyze the changes in physiochemical, biological, and biochemical properties of the soil, and statistical analyses were done accordingly. Irrespective of the sites, the experimental results proved that the integrated application of AMF + biochar + RT in V. mungo resulted in the highest soil organic carbon (i.e., 135% increment over the control) and microbial biomass carbon (24%), whereas the same application (i.e., AMF + biochar + RT) in Z. mays had the maximum reduction in microbial (32%) and soil (44%) respiration. On the other hand, enhanced occurrence of glomalin activity (98%) was noted in Z. mays cropping for all the sites. Significant negative correlation between soil respiration and glomalin activity under AMF + biochar + RT (−0.85), AMF + RT (−0.82), and biochar + RT (−0.62) was an indication of glomalin’s role in the reduced rate of soil respiration. The research results proved that the combined application of AMF + biochar + RT was the best practice for enhancing soil quality while reducing respiration. Therefore, the development of suitable packages of integrated agronomic practices is essential for agricultural sustainability.

ACS Style

Rama Dubey; Pradeep Dubey; Rajan Chaurasia; Ch Rao; Purushothaman Abhilash. Impact of Integrated Agronomic Practices on Soil Fertility and Respiration on the Indo-Gangetic Plain of North India. Agronomy 2021, 11, 402 .

AMA Style

Rama Dubey, Pradeep Dubey, Rajan Chaurasia, Ch Rao, Purushothaman Abhilash. Impact of Integrated Agronomic Practices on Soil Fertility and Respiration on the Indo-Gangetic Plain of North India. Agronomy. 2021; 11 (2):402.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Rama Dubey; Pradeep Dubey; Rajan Chaurasia; Ch Rao; Purushothaman Abhilash. 2021. "Impact of Integrated Agronomic Practices on Soil Fertility and Respiration on the Indo-Gangetic Plain of North India." Agronomy 11, no. 2: 402.

Review
Published: 17 February 2021 in Land
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Restoring the health of degraded land is critical for overall human development as land is a vital life-supporting system, directly or indirectly influencing the attainment of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs). However, more than 33% of the global land is degraded and thereby affecting the livelihood of billions of people worldwide. Realizing this fact, the 73rd session of the UN Assembly has formally adopted a resolution to celebrate 2021–2030 as the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (UN-DER), for preventing, halting, and reversing degradation of ecosystems worldwide. While this move is historic and beneficial for both people and the planet, restoration of degraded land at different scales and levels requires a paradigm shift in existing restoration approaches, fueled by the application of applied science to citizen/community-based science, and tapping of indigenous and local knowledge to advanced technological breakthroughs. In addition, there is a need of strong political will and positive behavioral changes to strengthen restoration initiatives at the grassroot level and involvement of people from all walks of life (i.e., from politicians to peasants and social workers to scientists) are essential for achieving the targets of the UN-DER. Similarly, financing restoration on the ground by the collective contribution of individuals (crowd funding) and institutions (institutional funding) are critical for maintaining the momentum. Private companies can earmark lion-share of their corporate social responsibility fund (CSR fund) exclusively for restoration. The adoption of suitable bioeconomy models is crucial for maintaining the perpetuity of the restoration by exploring co-benefits, and also for ensuring stakeholder involvements during and after the restoration. This review underpins various challenges and plausible solutions to avoid, reduce, and reverse global land degradation as envisioned during the UN-DER, while fulfilling the objectives of other ongoing initiatives like the Bonn Challenge and the UN-SDGs.

ACS Style

Purushothaman Abhilash. Restoring the Unrestored: Strategies for Restoring Global Land during the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (UN-DER). Land 2021, 10, 201 .

AMA Style

Purushothaman Abhilash. Restoring the Unrestored: Strategies for Restoring Global Land during the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (UN-DER). Land. 2021; 10 (2):201.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Purushothaman Abhilash. 2021. "Restoring the Unrestored: Strategies for Restoring Global Land during the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (UN-DER)." Land 10, no. 2: 201.

Journal article
Published: 10 December 2020 in Journal of Environmental Management
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Agroecosystems are the largest human-natural coupled production system covering ~40% of the planet earth and provide essential ecosystem services for a good quality of life and human wellbeing. The sustainable management of agroecosystems are therefore essential for meeting the food, fuel, fiber, and fodder demands of the rapidly growing human population. Agroecosystems also play a key role in trace gases emission, and also affect the quality and usage of life-supporting resources such as air, water, soil etc. Though the sustainable management of agroecosystems are imperative for achieving UN-Sustainable Development Goals, they are frequently under degradation due to multiple drivers of changes such as unsustainable land-use practices, biodiversity loss, pollution and climate change, etc. Therefore, cordial efforts at national, regional and global levels are essential for managing agroecosystems to meet out the global goals and also the targets of the United Nations- Decade o-n Ecosystem Restoration (2021–2030). Here we opined various strategies for restoring degraded agroecosystems for sustainable development including the adoption of emerging paradigms such as micro-agriculture, urban agriculture, and landless agriculture for averting the mounting pressure on agroecosystems for the benefit of both people and the planet.

ACS Style

Pradeep Kumar Dubey; Ajeet Singh; Apoorva Raghubanshi; P.C. Abhilash. Steering the restoration of degraded agroecosystems during the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Journal of Environmental Management 2020, 280, 111798 .

AMA Style

Pradeep Kumar Dubey, Ajeet Singh, Apoorva Raghubanshi, P.C. Abhilash. Steering the restoration of degraded agroecosystems during the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Journal of Environmental Management. 2020; 280 ():111798.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Pradeep Kumar Dubey; Ajeet Singh; Apoorva Raghubanshi; P.C. Abhilash. 2020. "Steering the restoration of degraded agroecosystems during the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration." Journal of Environmental Management 280, no. : 111798.

Chapter
Published: 08 July 2020 in Integrated Risk of Pandemic: Covid-19 Impacts, Resilience and Recommendations
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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.

ACS Style

Pradeep Kumar Dubey; Ajeet Singh; Rajan Chaurasia; P. C. Abhilash. Climate Adaptive Agricultural Interventions for Food, Nutritional, Health and Livelihood Security. Integrated Risk of Pandemic: Covid-19 Impacts, Resilience and Recommendations 2020, 267 -288.

AMA Style

Pradeep Kumar Dubey, Ajeet Singh, Rajan Chaurasia, P. C. Abhilash. Climate Adaptive Agricultural Interventions for Food, Nutritional, Health and Livelihood Security. Integrated Risk of Pandemic: Covid-19 Impacts, Resilience and Recommendations. 2020; ():267-288.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Pradeep Kumar Dubey; Ajeet Singh; Rajan Chaurasia; P. C. Abhilash. 2020. "Climate Adaptive Agricultural Interventions for Food, Nutritional, Health and Livelihood Security." Integrated Risk of Pandemic: Covid-19 Impacts, Resilience and Recommendations , no. : 267-288.

Journal article
Published: 21 May 2020 in Land Use Policy
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Aligning existing agricultural polices with UN-Sustainable Development Goals is imperative for the transition towards a cleaner and planet friendly food production, especially for a geographically and demographically diverse country like India. In this context, the present study focuses on ascertaining the major social and environmental challenges affecting agriculture in India, while evaluating the potential of efficient policy restructure in boosting growth within this sector. The methodology incorporates a quantitative assessment of social, ecological and economic indicators of agricultural sustainability in India, coupled with a co-relation analysis between several nutrition and land-based indicators for leading agriculture states across the country. The results highlight that despite attaining sufficiency in terms of food production, access to food by all in the country remains a major challenge along with incoherence between certain Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) indicators and their corresponding data values. Furthermore, a critical analysis of operational as well as recommended agriculture and farmer welfare policies indicate that formulation of an overarching policy influencing sustainable management of agricultural systems, combined with proper implementation of social welfare schemes, would lead to the timely realisation of SDG 1 (no poverty), SDG 2 (zero hunger), and SDG 3 (good health and well-being) in India. Consequently, an umbrella policy (National Policy on Eco-Agri-Food Systems) has been proposed by authors for sustainable management of the country’s entire agricultural value chain. Recommendations related to agricultural waste management and adoption of planetary healthy diets have also been suggested for enabling the smooth transition of agriculture as a sustainable enterprise in India.

ACS Style

Priya Priyadarshini; Purushothaman Chirakkuzhyil Abhilash. Policy recommendations for enabling transition towards sustainable agriculture in India. Land Use Policy 2020, 96, 104718 .

AMA Style

Priya Priyadarshini, Purushothaman Chirakkuzhyil Abhilash. Policy recommendations for enabling transition towards sustainable agriculture in India. Land Use Policy. 2020; 96 ():104718.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Priya Priyadarshini; Purushothaman Chirakkuzhyil Abhilash. 2020. "Policy recommendations for enabling transition towards sustainable agriculture in India." Land Use Policy 96, no. : 104718.

Original article
Published: 02 May 2020 in Sustainability Science
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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.

ACS Style

Priya Priyadarshini; Purushothaman Chirakkuzhyil Abhilash. Exploring the ‘Safe Operating Space’ of India for the implementation of UN-Sustainable Development Goals through effectual policy alignment. Sustainability Science 2020, 15, 1149 -1168.

AMA Style

Priya Priyadarshini, Purushothaman Chirakkuzhyil Abhilash. Exploring the ‘Safe Operating Space’ of India for the implementation of UN-Sustainable Development Goals through effectual policy alignment. Sustainability Science. 2020; 15 (4):1149-1168.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Priya Priyadarshini; Purushothaman Chirakkuzhyil Abhilash. 2020. "Exploring the ‘Safe Operating Space’ of India for the implementation of UN-Sustainable Development Goals through effectual policy alignment." Sustainability Science 15, no. 4: 1149-1168.

Editorial
Published: 02 May 2020 in Agronomy
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The world population is projected to become 10 billion by the end of this century. This growing population exerts tremendous pressure on our finite food resources. Unfortunately, the lion-share of the global calorie intake is reliant upon a handful of plant species like rice, wheat, maize, soybean and potato. Therefore, it is the need of the hour to expand our dietary reliance to nutritionally rich but neglected, underutilized and yet-to-be-used wild plants. Many wild plants are also having ethnomedicinal and biocultural significance. Owing to their ecosystem plasticity, they are adapted to diverse habitats including marginal, degraded and other disturbed soil systems. Due to these resilient attributes, they can be considered for large-scale cultivation. However, proper biotechnological interventions are important for (i) removing the negative traits (e.g., low yield, slow growth, antinutritional factors, etc.), (ii) improving the positive traits (e.g., nutritional quality, stress tolerance, etc.), as well as (iii) standardizing the mass multiplication and cultivation strategies of such species for various agro-climatic regions. Besides, learning the biocultural knowledge and traditional cultivation practices employed by the local people is also crucial for their exploitation. The Special Issue “Wild Crop Relatives and Associated Biocultural and Traditional Agronomic Practices for Food and Nutritional Security” was intended to showcase the potential wild crop varieties of nutritional significance and associated biocultural knowledge from the diverse agroecological regions of the world and also to formulate suitable policy frameworks for food and nutritional security. The novel recommendations brought by this Special Issue would serve as a stepping stone for utilizing wild and neglected crops as a supplemental food. Nevertheless, long-term cultivation trials under various agro-climatic conditions are utmost important for unlocking the real potential of these species.

ACS Style

Ajeet Singh; Rama Kant Dubey; Amit Kumar Bundela; Purushothaman C. Abhilash. The Trilogy of Wild Crops, Traditional Agronomic Practices, and UN-Sustainable Development Goals. Agronomy 2020, 10, 648 .

AMA Style

Ajeet Singh, Rama Kant Dubey, Amit Kumar Bundela, Purushothaman C. Abhilash. The Trilogy of Wild Crops, Traditional Agronomic Practices, and UN-Sustainable Development Goals. Agronomy. 2020; 10 (5):648.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ajeet Singh; Rama Kant Dubey; Amit Kumar Bundela; Purushothaman C. Abhilash. 2020. "The Trilogy of Wild Crops, Traditional Agronomic Practices, and UN-Sustainable Development Goals." Agronomy 10, no. 5: 648.

Research article
Published: 01 May 2020 in Land Degradation & Development
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Restoration of degraded land is imperative for addressing climate change, deriving additional benefits such as biomass and biofuel for supporting a biobased economy and also for meeting various targets of Bonn Challenge and UN‐SDGs. In this context, the present research was aimed to evaluate the performance of mixed biomass plantations on the saline land of western India over a period of four years. The impact of plantations on soil quality over the study period (2015–18) was analysed by the principal component analysis method of Saline Soil Reclamation Index (SSRI). The study found a strong correlation between plant growth attributes and soil quality (p < 0.01). Soil porosity, texture, pH balance, electrical conductivity (EC), available potassium (AK) and nitrogen (AN) levels are found to be the key indicators regulating the plant growth. The EC, AK and AN level were seen to change significantly during the initial stage (2014) from 25 dS m−1, 10 mg kg−1 and 23 mg kg−1 to 1 dS m−1, 24 mg kg−1 and 39 mg kg−1, respectively, towards the end of the study period (2018). Among the various test plants, six species (Albizia lebbeck, Casuarina equisetifolia, Cordia dichotoma, Pithecellobium dulce, Pongamia pinnata, Terminalia arjuna) were found with high SSRI (>0.50); while the rest displayed moderate SSRI (0.30–0.49), except for Azadirachta indica, which shown low SSRI (<0.30). The trees having high SSRI are most suitable for the reclamation of saline soil and therefore, SSRI can be used as a tool for assessing the progress of saline land restoration. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

ACS Style

Sheikh Adil Edrisi; Vishal Tripathi; Rajiv Kumar Chaturvedi; Dinesh Kumar Dubey; Girish Patel; Purushothaman Chirakkuzhyil Abhilash. Saline Soil Reclamation Index as an efficient tool for assessing restoration progress of saline land. Land Degradation & Development 2020, 32, 123 -138.

AMA Style

Sheikh Adil Edrisi, Vishal Tripathi, Rajiv Kumar Chaturvedi, Dinesh Kumar Dubey, Girish Patel, Purushothaman Chirakkuzhyil Abhilash. Saline Soil Reclamation Index as an efficient tool for assessing restoration progress of saline land. Land Degradation & Development. 2020; 32 (1):123-138.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Sheikh Adil Edrisi; Vishal Tripathi; Rajiv Kumar Chaturvedi; Dinesh Kumar Dubey; Girish Patel; Purushothaman Chirakkuzhyil Abhilash. 2020. "Saline Soil Reclamation Index as an efficient tool for assessing restoration progress of saline land." Land Degradation & Development 32, no. 1: 123-138.

Opinion article
Published: 19 April 2020 in Restoration Ecology
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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 (CE) in boosting land restoration (LR) and realization of several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 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. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

ACS Style

Priya Priyadarshini; Purushothaman Chirakkuzhyil Abhilash. Fostering sustainable land restoration through circular economy‐governed transitions. Restoration Ecology 2020, 28, 719 -723.

AMA Style

Priya Priyadarshini, Purushothaman Chirakkuzhyil Abhilash. Fostering sustainable land restoration through circular economy‐governed transitions. Restoration Ecology. 2020; 28 (4):719-723.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Priya Priyadarshini; Purushothaman Chirakkuzhyil Abhilash. 2020. "Fostering sustainable land restoration through circular economy‐governed transitions." Restoration Ecology 28, no. 4: 719-723.

Journal article
Published: 26 February 2020 in Journal of Environmental Management
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Sustainable agronomic practices are being implemented worldwide to promote the cleaner and planet friendly crop production. Therefore, in the present study, we investigated the effect of agro-waste derived biochar and vermicompost on soil quality and yield in Cicer arietinum L. Field experiment was carried out at three different agro-climatic regions (Varanasi, Sultanpur and Gorakhpur) of Uttar Pradesh, India and periodic soil and crop sampling were done accordingly. Experimental results proven that a significant increase (p < 0.01) in total organic carbon, available N, P and K content was observed under vermicompost followed by biochar amendment at each site. Similarly, irrespective of the experimental site, a significant increase (p < 0.01) in microbial biomass carbon was recorded under vermicompost amendment. Furthermore, the addition of vermicompost increased the grain yield (28–39%) than biochar (23–36%) addition whereas the higher microbial and soil respiration (2–6%) found in former field than the biochar added field (1–3%). Significant correlation (R2= 0.61–0.99) was found between the sustainable yield index and soil fertility factors at each site. Assessment of agricultural soil sustainability indicators (ASSI) suggests that the biochar was more effective in enhancing the soil carbon stock (21 ± 1.31 Mg C ha−1) and higher glomalin activity (62%). The study also confirmed the increased alkaline phosphatase (two fold) and β-glucosidase activity (one fold) along with enhanced urease (45%), soil dehydrogenase activity (36%) under vermicompost amendment followed by biochar. Present study highlights the significance of sustainable agronomic practices for improving the soil quality and agricultural yield while reducing adverse impact.

ACS Style

Rama Kant Dubey; Pradeep Kumar Dubey; Rajan Chaurasia; Harikesh Bahadhur Singh; Purushothaman Chirakkuzhyil Abhilash. Sustainable agronomic practices for enhancing the soil quality and yield of Cicer arietinum L. under diverse agroecosystems. Journal of Environmental Management 2020, 262, 110284 .

AMA Style

Rama Kant Dubey, Pradeep Kumar Dubey, Rajan Chaurasia, Harikesh Bahadhur Singh, Purushothaman Chirakkuzhyil Abhilash. Sustainable agronomic practices for enhancing the soil quality and yield of Cicer arietinum L. under diverse agroecosystems. Journal of Environmental Management. 2020; 262 ():110284.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Rama Kant Dubey; Pradeep Kumar Dubey; Rajan Chaurasia; Harikesh Bahadhur Singh; Purushothaman Chirakkuzhyil Abhilash. 2020. "Sustainable agronomic practices for enhancing the soil quality and yield of Cicer arietinum L. under diverse agroecosystems." Journal of Environmental Management 262, no. : 110284.

Journal article
Published: 21 February 2020 in Land
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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 (2015–16) through direct field sampling and questionnaire-based surveys. While there was a positive difference (p < 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 × 106 g−1 of soil) in invaded land as compared to the non-invaded one (31.01 × 106 g−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−1 y−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 (2021–2030) as this species has invasive traits and thereby reduces the ecosystem sustainability of the invaded areas.

ACS Style

Sheikh Adil Edrisi; Ali El-Keblawy; Purushothaman Chirakkuzhyil Abhilash. Sustainability Analysis of Prosopis juliflora (Sw.) DC Based Restoration of Degraded Land in North India. Land 2020, 9, 59 .

AMA Style

Sheikh Adil Edrisi, Ali El-Keblawy, Purushothaman Chirakkuzhyil Abhilash. Sustainability Analysis of Prosopis juliflora (Sw.) DC Based Restoration of Degraded Land in North India. Land. 2020; 9 (2):59.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Sheikh Adil Edrisi; Ali El-Keblawy; Purushothaman Chirakkuzhyil Abhilash. 2020. "Sustainability Analysis of Prosopis juliflora (Sw.) DC Based Restoration of Degraded Land in North India." Land 9, no. 2: 59.

Review
Published: 13 February 2020 in Bioresource Technology
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Adoption of circular practices within environmental management is gaining worldwide recognition owing to rapid resource depletion and detrimental effects of climate change. The present study therefore attempted to ascertain the linkages between circular economy (CE) and sustainable development (SD) by examining the role of renewable energy (RE) and waste management (WM) sectors in CE combined with policy setup and enabling frameworks boosting the influx of circularity principles in the Indian context. Results revealed that research dedicated towards energy recovery from waste in India lacks integration with SD. Findings also revealed that although India is extremely dedicated towards attainment of the SDGs, penetration of CE principles within administration requires considerable efforts especially since WM regulations for municipal, plastic and e-waste lack alignment with CE principles. Integration of WM and RE policies under an umbrella CE policy would provide further impetus to the attainment of circularity and SD within the Indian economy.

ACS Style

Priya Priyadarshini; Purushothaman Chirakkuzhyil Abhilash. Circular economy practices within energy and waste management sectors of India: A meta-analysis. Bioresource Technology 2020, 304, 123018 .

AMA Style

Priya Priyadarshini, Purushothaman Chirakkuzhyil Abhilash. Circular economy practices within energy and waste management sectors of India: A meta-analysis. Bioresource Technology. 2020; 304 ():123018.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Priya Priyadarshini; Purushothaman Chirakkuzhyil Abhilash. 2020. "Circular economy practices within energy and waste management sectors of India: A meta-analysis." Bioresource Technology 304, no. : 123018.

Book chapter
Published: 24 January 2020 in Nano-Materials as Photocatalysts for Degradation of Environmental Pollutants
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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.

ACS Style

Mansi Bakshi; P.C. Abhilash. Nanotechnology for soil remediation: Revitalizing the tarnished resource. Nano-Materials as Photocatalysts for Degradation of Environmental Pollutants 2020, 345 -370.

AMA Style

Mansi Bakshi, P.C. Abhilash. Nanotechnology for soil remediation: Revitalizing the tarnished resource. Nano-Materials as Photocatalysts for Degradation of Environmental Pollutants. 2020; ():345-370.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Mansi Bakshi; P.C. Abhilash. 2020. "Nanotechnology for soil remediation: Revitalizing the tarnished resource." Nano-Materials as Photocatalysts for Degradation of Environmental Pollutants , no. : 345-370.

Journal article
Published: 05 November 2019 in Journal of Cleaner Production
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The doctrine of Sustainability Science (SS) is widely acknowledged as a tool for attaining global sustainability and is becoming the core philosophy of national and international developmental agendas. Goal 4 of the United Nations-Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs) clearly acknowledges the role education plays in the promulgation of Sustainable Development (SD) by acting as a thread that concatenates the other SDGs. Hence, it is gaining global popularity as an academic discipline. However, SS as a standalone course is yet to gain prominence in Indian education systems, even though certain principles and practices of this science have been included within existing courses like Environmental Sciences. The present work thus aimed to bridge the gap between SD and education through the incorporation of sustainability tenets within universities of India. The methodology involved an assessment of research dedicated towards environmental and social issues in India and identification of possible entry-points for SS within higher education through detailed scanning of Central, State and Private Universities. Results indicated that none of the universities were offering SS and only half of the universities surveyed provided Environmental Sciences. Therefore, a template for SS syllabus relevant in the Indian context was designed. Besides, two models namely the ‘infusion model’ for introduction of SS as a separate academic course and the ‘diffusion model’ for customization of the existing courses by integrating the principles and practices of sustainability were also proposed. We conclude that the effective utilisation of these templates can propel the implementation of SS within Indian higher education for nurturing a future generation of students having sustainability ethos in their words and deeds for addressing the developmental challenges of India.

ACS Style

Priya Priyadarshini; Purushothaman Chirakkuzhyil Abhilash. From piecemeal to holistic: Introducing sustainability science in Indian Universities to attain UN-Sustainable Development Goals. Journal of Cleaner Production 2019, 247, 119133 .

AMA Style

Priya Priyadarshini, Purushothaman Chirakkuzhyil Abhilash. From piecemeal to holistic: Introducing sustainability science in Indian Universities to attain UN-Sustainable Development Goals. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2019; 247 ():119133.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Priya Priyadarshini; Purushothaman Chirakkuzhyil Abhilash. 2019. "From piecemeal to holistic: Introducing sustainability science in Indian Universities to attain UN-Sustainable Development Goals." Journal of Cleaner Production 247, no. : 119133.