Soil is the major natural resource on which human life depends for the
production of food, feed, fiber, renewable energy and raw materials, as
well as the protection of the planet's natural ecosystems and climate
system. Increasing soil degradation and subsequent ecosystem degradation
is a current concern in agriculture and the environment. Soil
degradation poses many challenges to feed the world's growing
population. This food insecurity will also reduce the income of the
agricultural sector, which will lead to a decrease in economic income.
Soil degradation will lead to environmental threats, the extinction of
animals and plants, the reduction of biodiversity, water loss, and
disruption of water and carbon cycles. The use of new technologies such
as biological crusts has provided great hope for the recovery and
restoration of degraded ecosystems. Inoculation of biological crusts,
especially cyanobacteria, has had positive results on improving soil
conditions and restoration degraded soils. In this article, has been
introduced the biocrusts communities considering cyanobacteria species
to restore degraded soils. We reported the results of cyanobacteria
applications in soil conservation in arid environments of Iran.