Lead pollution in soils within the African mining landscapes: current status, impacts, and nature-based interventions

Lead (Pb) pollution is a persistent environmental and public health crisis worsened by mining activities in African mining landscapes. Pb is a non-biodegradable toxicant that can enter the food chain via surface deposition or plant uptake from the rhizosphere. This review synthesizes the current status of Pb pollution, the food chain as a pathway for exposure, associated health challenges, and intervention strategies for Pb contamination in African mining areas. Following PRISMA guidelines, 92 peer-reviewed articles from 2000 to 2024 were identified across multiple databases. Original articles from reputable journals with complete metadata, abstracts, and full texts were included, while duplicates, theses, non-English studies, and articles outside this scope were excluded. Results show that soil Pb levels in West and Southern Africa exceeded permissible limits, while monitoring gaps exist in Northern and East Africa. The review notes Pb bioaccumulation in food crops, posing major health risks, especially to children, necessitating long-term interventions. Although bioremediation and amendment-assisted phytoremediation have shown promise, their suitability for large-scale application and community replicability requires further study. Amendment-assisted phytoremediation with biochar has shown potential to stabilize Pb in soil, but its effectiveness depends on many variables and requires adapting methods to local conditions. There is a significant knowledge gap regarding the long-term stability of sequestered Pb and the replicability of interventions across varying environments. Future research should focus on optimizing local, cost-effective remediation and establishing unified monitoring frameworks to protect food security and public health continent-wide.