Developing sustainable measures to restore fly-ash contaminated lands: Current challenges and future prospects

Land degradation is one of the major global environmental issues that need serious attention. The land itself is a complex system regulating myriads of processes. Any perturbation in these processes would undoubtedly lead to the stimulation of land degradation. Among these, fly-ash (FA) dumping is one of the usual practices, which has been adopted to overcome land-use disruption and other health hazards. However, this practice has become a driving factor for FA-induced land degradation. Therefore, in purview to tackle this issue, the present article aimed to identify and suggest sustainable practices to restore and manage FA-contaminated sites. As a preliminarily it deals with the systematic exploration and identification of FA-based and associated contaminated lands via geospatial technology with a brief focus on assessing its different contaminant profiles in the FA and soil systems. Further, this moreover, the article emphasizes the need to identify identifying the potential local plant species in the FA-contaminated regions that can meet the local people's demands. Following this we suggest appropriate sustainable approaches to expedite the restoration of FA-contaminated lands and highlight the critical bottlenecks during ground implementation. Our article aimed to unravel ways to address the aforementioned bottlenecks to develop an efficient restoration enterprise during the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030).

Automated summary

Land degradation is a major global environmental issue that requires attention. Sustainable practices are needed to restore contaminated sites efficiently. Identification of potential plant species and addressing critical bottlenecks are crucial in the restoration process.