Industrial Botany in the Modern Era

Abstract

Scientific and technological progress has enabled humanity to create an unprecedented level of comfort, underpinned by the global exploitation of virtually all planetary resources, including plants. Humanity has paid an exorbitant price for its prosperity – it has destroyed the resilience of natural ecosystems and, consequently, the conditions for the survival of humankind. We live in an era of global ecological crisis; without finding the right way out, we risk losing the ability to inhabit planet Earth. The technocratic development of civilization is killing nature and killing humanity itself. Industrial botany aims to preserve habitats and the biosphere. Key problems facing industrial botany include studying the processes of revegetation on mine dumps and developing nature-like technologies for accelerated plant restoration on mine dumps; studying the dynamics and status of invasive species populations under anthropogenic and technogenic impacts on vegetation; conserving floristic diversity in situ and ex situ in many industrial regions; and developing a system of specially protected areas.