Historic Sites and Environmental Change: Linking Warfare Impacts on Soil Systems with Phytomanagement Strategies

This systematic literature review examines primary data from research articles regarding the effects of military activities on the environment, focusing on soil. Concentrations of heavy metals—primarily Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn, Cr, Ni, Co, and Hg—consistently surpass permissible safety limits, often by considerable margins. Environmental damage is not limited to immediate areas of conflict, but spreads into the wider ecosystem, affecting groundwater and the food chain. Military activities do not merely cause temporary physical destruction but often result in long-term environmental degradation after hostilities have ceased. In many cases, phytoremediation may be an effective remedial approach as its non-destructive nature preserves historically and culturally significant sites such as concentration and extermination camps, mass graves, and battlefields.