Brown biotechnology: a powerful toolbox for resolving current and future challenges in the development of arid lands

Abstract

The aim of this study was to link the biotechnological advances made in arid lands, which are known as "brown biotechnology, " to the current environmental challenges facing these regions, their ecosystems and their inhabitants. We present a broad compilation of scientific evidence and technological advances developed over the past 15 years that have helped to address some of the classical constraints of arid environments, such as the development of sustainable agriculture in areas limited by water resources and low levels of organic matter in soils, including the relevant organisms and their interactions with biotic and abiotic stressors. New challenges and new opportunities related to the production of sustainable energy, versatile crops, phytoremediation, biofertilization, desalination, and the incorporation of genes into plants to improve their resistance to water scarcity and to obtain biomolecules from the organisms living in these hostile environments are also presented. To face the constant and recently extreme changes in the climate and the worrisome scarcity of natural resources successfully, issues that need to be resolved in the short and medium terms are described here.