Remediation of heavy metals contamination in soil under global climate change situation: A review

Abstract

In today’s era there is a necessity to study the impact of climate change, particularly global warming, and its accompanying extreme events on soil pollution caused by heavy metal contamination, their mobility in soils, and potential remedies. Furthermore, with increasing concerns about soil health and the safety of agricultural products, heavy metal pollution in soil has become a significant global environmental challenge. Heavy metals, including cadmium, mercury, arsenic, lead, and chromium, possess biological toxicity and enter the soil ecosystem through both human activities and natural processes. This pollution poses a serious threat to all living organisms, including humans, due to the risk of accumulation in the food chain. In response to this challenge, resilient phytoremediation has emerged as a sustainable alternative to conventional methods, owing to its affordability, environmental friendliness, and visual appeal, it has been determined that more than 500 taxa are hyper accumulators of one or more metals due to their innate capacity to remove them from the soil. However, further study is required to improve plant tolerance and reduce the build-up of harmful heavy metals in soils. However, additional research combining biotechnological approaches with comprehensive multidisciplinary studies is required to enhance plant tolerance and decrease the accumulation of hazardous metals in soils. This review explores the sources of heavy metals, their behaviour in soil ecosystems under the influence of global climate change, and environmentally friendly remediation methods for removing heavy metals from soil.