Speaker
Description
Soil contamination remains a significant environmental challenge, stemming from past industrial activities, property rights issues, and ongoing unsustainable practices. Among the innovative solutions to this issue, phytoremediation—defined as the use of plants to remove or neutralise contaminants—emerges as a dual-benefit strategy. This environmentally friendly technique offers a nature-based approach to combating soil degradation while producing biomass that can serve as feedstock for advanced biofuels, thereby facilitating the transition to a low-carbon circular economy. Moreover, phytoremediation is recognised for its role inenhancing biodiversity.
However, the successful integration of phytoremediation into biofuel production presents both scientific and regulatory challenges. A primary concern is the necessity for plants that can thrive in toxic environments and produce adequate biomass for energy conversion. In this regard, advancements in biotechnology, including the use of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and New Genomic Techniques (NGTs), represent promising technical innovations.
Nonetheless, these methods are highly controversial. The Confédération Paysanne judgment (C-528/16) by the Court of Justice of the European Union classified NGTs within the same regulatory framework as traditional GMOs, leading to the implementation of a highly restrictive regime within the EU context. The ultimate goal of implementing phytoremediation correctly is to transform contaminated land into arable land, thereby making it suitable once again for mitigating and combating
climate change. Besides modern taboos, such as the involvement of GMOs and NGTs, one question will be particularly considered: whether phytoremediation falls under the definition of sustainable agricultural practice.
| If your abstract is not accepted for an oral presentation, would you be interested in presenting it as a poster instead? | No |
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| If accepted by the Scientific Board, I agree to have my presentation/poster and abstract published on the Belgian Climate Centre websites and social media. | Yes |
