Role of Biotechnology in Afforestation and Land Rehabilitation

Increased requirements for food and commodities have generated immense pressure on land resources. Landforms and forest areas have been converted to agricultural lands and rehabilitation areas to support the needs of a growing population. Owing to these changes, an urgent need for afforestation and land restoration has been generated. Various methodologies have been tried to restore the degraded land and increase the forest cover. Clonal propagation aiming at rapid multiplication and large-scale production of plants via selected clones has been successfully implemented. This approach has proved useful in raising commercial plantations. The use of biotechnological approaches such as molecular markers and advanced breeding programmes proved useful in raising clones for achieving afforestation and land rehabilitation on a large scale. The present chapter provides a detailed account of biotechnological techniques and processes that have played a significant role in afforestation and land rehabilitation. nbsp;