Sustainable development is the key for the survival in 21st century. The
natural resources are finite and cannot be used with impunity because we
are the custodian of these resources and have responsibility to pass
these to the next generation. This monumental task requires several
major commitments and most important of them is to arrest population
explosion which has already reached seven billion. Natural resources
like air to breath, food to eat, and water to drink, and fossil fuel to
maintain this life style are being overexploited. Unrestrained consuming
culture will accelerate undesired situation. This situation will have
more dire consequences in resource limited ecosystems like dry lands.
Given the severe scarcity of water, ever increasing population and soil
salinization out of the box solutions for the provision of food and
clean energy is required to spare meager fresh water resources for
conventional agriculture. This volume contains a number of articles
dealing with halophyte ecology, bio-geography, ecophysiology,
hyper-saline soils, biofuels, biosaline agriculture, biosaline
landscaping, climate change mitigation, and biodiversity. It also
contains the communication of innovative ideas, such as the research
into floating mangroves, seagrass terraces, as well as a World Halophyte
Garden containing all known salt-tolerant plant species. It is hoped
that the information provided will not only advance vegetation science,
but that it will truly generate more interdisciplinarity, networking,
awareness, and inspire farmers, and agricultural and landscaping
stakeholders to seriously engage in halophyte cash crop production in
coastal hyper-saline areas.
