**About the Editors**

**Purushothaman Chirakkuzhyil Abhilash** is a Senior Assistant Professor at the Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi, India, and Lead of the Agroecosystem Specialist Group of IUCN's Commission on Ecosystem Management (CEM). He is a fellow (FNAAS) of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, India. His research interest lies in restoring marginal and degraded lands for regaining ecosystem services and supporting a bio-based economy, land system management, sustainable utilization of agrobiodiversity, nature-based solutions and ecosystem-based adaptations for climate-resilient and planet-healthy food production, and sustainable agriscape management for food and nutritional security. He is particularly interested in sustainability analysis, system sustainability, sustainability indicators, circular economy principles, policy realignment, and the localization of UN-SDGs for sustainable development. He serves on the editorial board of prestigious journals in ecology, environment, and sustainability from leading international publishers and also serves as a subject expert for UN-IPBES, IRP-UNEP, UNDP-BES Network, IPCC, UNCCD, APN, GLP, and IUCN Commissions (CEM, CEC, CEESP, and SSC) for fostering global sustainability.

**Ajeet Singh** is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. He earned his B.Sc. in Botany (Hons.), M.Sc. in Environmental Science (Banaras Hindu University), M.Phil. and Ph.D. in Environment and Sustainable Development from the Institute of Environmental and Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University, India. He is currently working on agrobiodiversity management, including the study of neglected, underutilized, and wild crops and associated biocultural, traditional, and indigenous ecological knowledge for enhancing the food and nutritional security of the growing human population. He has received the 'Jawaharlal Nehru Scholarship' and 'NASI-Springer Award' for young scientists. He was involved as a lead author of 'Land Restoration for Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals: An International Resource Panel Think Piece' by the International Resource Panel (IRP) of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

**Rama Kant Dubey** is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the National University of Singapore. He received his doctoral degree in Industrial Microbiology from the Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development, Banaras Hindu University, India, in 2019. During his doctoral research, he developed various climate-smart and resource conservation agro-biotechnological practices for improving the soil carbon stock, soil quality, yield, and nutritional quality of agricultural produce. In parallel to this, his newly developed agro-practices were able to reduce the microbial and soil respiration and improve key soil sustainability indicators under diverse agroecological zones of Uttar Pradesh, India. He also studied the consequences of changing climate conditions (elevated temperature) on microbial communities, trace gas emission, soil quality changes, and the subsequent effect on agricultural production. He is a 2017 Green Talent Awardee (BMBF, German Government), and he also worked as a Guest Researcher at Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen, Germany, during 2018, where he explored the ¨ role of microbial communities inhabiting the rhizosphere, endosphere, and phyllosphere of Zea mays L. for maximizing the agro-environmental sustainability. His current research focuses on microbial ecology and aboveground–belowground multi-trophic interactions for regaining ecosystem services of Southeast Asian peatlands.

**Hailin Zhang** is a Professor of the College of Agronomy and Biotechnology (CAB) at China Agricultural University and Associate Dean of the CAB. He is a vice-chairman of the China Association of Farming System Research (CAFSR). His studies focus on conservation agriculture, climate change and cropping systems, soil carbon sequestration, cropping system management, and soil ecology. He linked conservation agriculture, soil carbon sequestration, and climate change and mitigation in his study, particularly focusing on changes in soil carbon, soil carbon fraction, and soil quality under conservation agriculture. He is also interested in the meta-analysis of management-induced changes in agroecosystems. He serves on the editorial boards of Agronomy and Green Reports and the advisory board of Sci. He was awarded by Publons as being in the top 1% of reviewers in the Agricultural Science, Environment and Ecology, and Cross-Field categories.

**Othmane Merah** is an Associate Professor at the University Paul Sabatier and in the Laboratory of Agroindustrial Chemistry, Toulouse, France. After obtaining a degree in Engineering in Agronomic Sciences from the National Agronomic School of Rennes (France) and the University of Blida (Algeria), he completed his PhD at the Institute of Plant Biotechnology (Paris XI University) and the National Institute for Agronomic Research (Montpellier). He completed his Habilitation Diploma by supervising doctoral research at the National Polytechnic Institute of Toulouse. He investigated the genetic, morphological, and physiological diversity in cereals, oilseed crops, and aromatic plants. The impact of genetics and plant management on drought tolerance in cereals and the accumulation of bioactives was also studied. He is a crop scientist and agronomist with wide experience in large-scale research programs and in leading multidisciplinary and international collaboration projects. He has participated in the development of three cultivars of brown mustard in Burgundy (France) for the famous "Moutarde de Dijon" condiment. He has published over 130 publications. He participated as a Guest Editor for several Special Issues in international journals. He is a member of the Editorial and Advisory Boards of several international journals. He has attended many international congresses and symposiums.
