Soil Bioremediation and Phytoremediation — An Overview

Abstract

In the 45-year period of 1930–1975, the global human population has increased by approximately 2 billion, rising to 4 billion. A further population increase of 2 billion occurred in the 25-year interval 1975–2000 and population is expected to reach 8 billion by 2020. Population growth and the resultant development of large high-density urban populations, together with parallel global industrialization, have placed major pressures on our environment, potentially threatening environmental sus-tainability. This has resulted in the buildup of chemical and biological contaminants throughout the biosphere, but most notably in soils and sediments.