{"id":42114,"date":"2025-04-26T19:14:18","date_gmt":"2025-04-26T13:44:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=42114"},"modified":"2025-04-26T19:14:29","modified_gmt":"2025-04-26T13:44:29","slug":"agricultural-land-heavy-metal-pollution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/26-04-2025\/agricultural-land-heavy-metal-pollution","title":{"rendered":"Agricultural Land Contaminated by Toxic Heavy Metal Pollution"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS3\/ Environment<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A new study has revealed that soil pollution from toxic heavy metals and metalloids is significantly reducing crop yields and contaminating food supplies across the globe.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Key highlights<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The research found that between <strong>14 percent<\/strong> and<strong> 17 percent<\/strong> of the world\u2019s agricultural soils (About <strong>242 million hectares<\/strong>) exceed safe thresholds for at least one hazardous metal.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>This contamination affects an estimated <strong>900 million to 1.4 billion<\/strong> people living in high-risk regions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A heavily contaminated belt has been identified across <strong>low-latitude Eurasia, <\/strong>covering regions like <strong>southern Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, and southern China.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The widespread\u00a0 contaminants are <strong>Cadmium, Arsenic, Cobalt, Nickel and Chromium.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Causes of Heavy Metal Accumulation<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Anthropogenic Causes: <\/strong>Mining, smelting, industrial activities, and intensive agriculture (excessive fertilizer and pesticide use).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Natural Causes:<\/strong> Metal-rich bedrock and low rainfall in some regions that facilitate pollutant accumulation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Impact of metal contamination<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Food Chain Contamination: <\/strong>Crops grown in polluted soils absorb heavy metals like cadmium, arsenic, lead, and mercury. These metals enter the human body through food consumption.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Bioaccumulation:<\/strong> Long-term ingestion of low doses can lead to bioaccumulation, resulting in chronic diseases, including neurological and developmental disorders.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Biodiversity Loss: <\/strong>Toxic metals harm beneficial organisms like <strong>earthworms, insects, and microbes,<\/strong> leading to reduced biodiversity both below and above the soil.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Land Degradation:<\/strong> Continuous pollution makes soils barren, contributing to land degradation and desertification.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Concerns<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Data Gaps: <\/strong>Limited information from sub-Saharan Africa, northern Russia, and parts of central India may mean the issue is even more widespread.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Food Trade Risks: <\/strong>Global food trade could transfer contamination to low-risk regions, threatening broader food security.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Rising Demand for Metals:<\/strong> Increasing industrial demand is likely to worsen the contamination crisis without urgent mitigation measures.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Government Initiatives for Soil Conservation<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Soil Health Card Scheme:<\/strong> It provides farmers with soil nutrient status reports to encourage balanced fertilizer use and improve productivity.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Promotion of Organic Farming:<\/strong> Initiatives like Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) encourage organic farming practices to maintain soil health.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA):<\/strong> It focuses on enhancing soil health through integrated farming systems and agroforestry practices.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Global Initiatives<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Global Soil Partnership (GSP):<\/strong> It is an FAO-led initiative to improve global soil governance and promote sustainable soil management.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD):<\/strong> It works to prevent land degradation and promote sustainable land management globally.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It has a pledge for <strong>land degradation neutrality (LDN) by 2030.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>4 per 1000 Initiative:<\/strong> It aims to increase soil carbon stocks by 0.4% annually to combat climate change and enhance soil health.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Ahead<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Establish regional soil health observatories <\/strong>and expand the coverage of soil surveys.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Phytoremediation:<\/strong> Use of hyperaccumulator plants and microbes to clean contaminated soils.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Circular Economy:<\/strong> Recycling and management of e-waste, industrial waste to prevent soil contamination.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Farmer Awareness Programs:<\/strong> Educate farmers on heavy metal risks, safe agricultural practices, and alternative cropping systems.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.downtoearth.org.in\/environment\/about-242-million-hectares-of-worlds-agricultural-land-contaminated-by-toxic-heavy-metal-pollution-study\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>DTE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">A new study has revealed that soil pollution from toxic heavy metals and metalloids is significantly reducing crop yields and contaminating food supplies across the globe.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Key highlights<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">The research found that between 14 percent and 17 percent of the world\u2019s agricultural soils (About 242 million hectares) exceed safe thresholds for at least one hazardous metal.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">This contamination affects an estimated 900 million to 1.4 billion people living in high-risk regions.<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/26-04-2025\/agricultural-land-heavy-metal-pollution\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42114"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42141,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42114\/revisions\/42141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}