Heavy Metal Stress Management through Phytoremediation to Mitigate Climate Change Impacts: An Overview

Plant stresses are the conditions that adversely affect the growth, development, or productivity of plants/trees and can be caused by various physical, chemical, and biological factors. However, stress caused by the influence of heavy metals has a notable adverse effect on plant growth and productivity. These heavy metal contaminations are responsible for the harmful effects on biotic (plants and associated organisms) and the abiotic (soil, water, and air) environment. If not properly managed, mining activities are considered to be the prime source of heavy metal contamination in the surrounding environment. Phytoremediation may effectively remediate a wide range of heavy metal contaminants in different environments and hence offers an effective, carbon-neutral, and ecologically beneficial method for the removal of hazardous heavy metal contaminants. Phytoremediation enhances the growth and development of plants and nourishes the environment resulting in the ill effects of climate extremes in disturbed areas and hence mitigating the impacts of climate change. Phytoremediation has been widely studied for the remediation of heavy metal stress but it hasn't yet achieved commercial viability in degraded ecosystems of India where it is required the most. Through this review article, we tried to minimize this gap by reviewing some important phytoremediation studies in India which successfully reduced the negative impacts of heavy metals in different degraded ecosystems.