Contaminants in Agricultural Soils

It’s been estimated that around 24 billion tonnes of fertile topsoil is lost each year due to historic and ongoing pollution. With increasing pressure placed upon land as a resource, there is an urgent need to make better use of existing agricultural land, as well as remediate contaminated land for farming use.

Contaminants in agricultural soils: Challenges and solutions provides a comprehensive overview of the major types of contaminants in agricultural soils. It considers key issues in dealing with contaminants such as advances in detection and risk assessment. The book also reviews recent advances in bioremediation and phytoremediation techniques to manage contaminants in soils.

Author Biography

Dr Ravi Naidu is Professor in the College of Engineering Science and Environment and Founding Director of the Global Centre for Environmental Remediation (GCER) at the University of Newcastle, Australia. He is also Chief Executive Officer, Managing Director and Chief Scientist of the Cooperative Research Centre for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment (crcCARE). Professor Naidu is also Chair of the UN FAO International Network on Soil Pollution (INSOP) and Chair of the CleanUp Conference Series. Amongst other honours he received the 2022 Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award and Medal and the 2023 European Geosciences Union Alina Kabata-Pendias Medal. His election as a Fellow of Australian Academy of Science Technology and Engineering, New Zealand Academy of Science and Indian Academy of Agricultural Science reflects his outstanding scientific contribution. With over 850 journal publications, he is a Web of Science Globally Highly-Cited Researcher in soil contamination and remediation research.