Plant Biotechnology and Global Sustainability - Part 1 of 4

11.2 billion. According to Roser and Ortiz-Ospina (2013) will be the number of people with whom we will share our planet in 2100. This includes land, water, air and all other natural and non-natural resources. As the population grows, so does the global need for food and consequently industry, leading proportionally to an increase in pollution.

Of the various types that exist, air pollution can affect a large part of the world's population, even if it does not live near its source, being able to be present in its daily life, implying for example the worsening of diseases. In 2012, it caused about 3 million premature deaths (World Health Organization, 2016). One of the main sources of air pollution at a global level is transports (Karagulian et al., 2015), which means that both the production of the fuel and the release of gases by the means of transport releases harmful compounds to the environment, such as Carbon Dioxide (Kahn et al., 2007). This gas is very problematic due to its greenhouse effect contributing to global warming (Solomon et al., 2009), acidification of the oceans (Doney et al., 2009) and directly or indirectly to health problems (Chan, 2009 ).

The human being has always used biofuels as a source of energy, beginning in the early days with the use of wood trunks to provide heating. But it was from the twentieth century that biofuel began to be considered an important source of fuel for transportation, and then lost its place to fossil fuels for practical and economic reasons (Voloshin et al., 2016). This evolution has led to an increase in pollution, which shows that a more sustainable future involves adopting measures to prevent its use, such as the use of biodiesel. The use of this compound releases less 74% of carbon dioxide than a vehicle using a fossil fuel (US Department of Energy), and also helps reduce the emission of other gases such as N2O and SO2 (Demirbas, 2009) . It can also go through other measures, such as corrective measures, in which the plant world can be used as a "vacuum" for this type of gases. Example of ... photobioreactors on highways ?!

If it was up to past generations to promote the industrial boom to meet the growing needs of the population, it is up to us and future to solve the neglected problems of the past.

The objective of this work is to highlight the contribution that plant biotechnology can provide to the world in an attempt to reduce the source and impact of air pollution through preventive and corrective measures.

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