Desertification and heavy metals: mechanisms for the recovery of degraded áreas

Abstract

The Desertification occurs as a result of natural actions and can be intensified by anthropic actions, which causes several environmental problems and directly affects the soil, the hydrological cycle and biodiversity, especially the fauna and flora. In addition to the environmental impacts, desertification entails social and economic problems, since the unproductiveness of land affects the income generation of families that depend on them to make a living. It’s pertinent to point out that the social and environmental impacts are also associated with the expansion of agribusiness, industrialization and mining, which are economic activities that release pollutants of a different nature into the environment, such as heavy metals, which for now are also the cause of desertification in soils that were once arable. As palliative solutions to mitigate the effect of environmental degradation, natural regeneration has been used, when the environmental impacts are not intense, and in cases of milder degradation and more severe damage, the implementation of an agroforestry system is recommended, as it allows the interaction of forest with agricultural crops and the creation of herds in agroforestry systems. In the case of desertification by heavy metals, there are several techniques, such as excavations and landfills, which aim to immobilize the pollutant and make it less available in the soil. Another technique is phytoremediation, which makes use of plants specialized in absorbing heavy metals through the roots and compartmentalizing them in their vegetative parts, later carrying out the appropriate destination according to the pollutant's toxicity.