A Review about the Mycoremediation of Soil Impacted by War-like Activities: Challenges and Gaps

Abstract

(1) Background: The frequency and intensity of war-like activities (war, military training, and shooting ranges) worldwide cause soil pollution by metals, metalloids, explosives, radionuclides, and herbicides. Despite this environmentally worrying scenario, soil decontamination in former war zones almost always involves incineration. Nevertheless, this practice is expensive, and its efficiency is suitable only for organic pollutants. Therefore, treating soils polluted by wars requires efficient and economically viable alternatives. In this sense, this manuscript reviews the status and knowledge gaps of mycoremediation. (2) Methods: The literature review consisted of searches on ScienceDirect and Web of Science for articles (1980 to 2023) on the mycoremediation of soils containing pollutants derived from war-like activities. (3) Results: This review highlighted that mycoremediation has many successful applications for removing all pollutants of war-like activities. However, the mycoremediation of soils in former war zones and those impacted by military training and shooting ranges is still very incipient, with most applications emphasizing explosives. (4) Conclusion: The mycoremediation of soils from conflict zones is an entirely open field of research, and the main challenge is to optimize experimental conditions on a field scale.