Soil and Air Pollution in the Era of COVID-19: A Global Issue

Document Type : Review papers

Authors

1 soil and water dept. faculty of agriculture

2 Departments of Natural Sciences and Agriculture and Technical Studies, Dickinson State University, Dickinson, ND 5860,1 USA

3 Soils Improvement and Conservation Res. Department, Soils, Water and Environment Res. Institute,Agric. Res. Center, Giza, Egypt.

4 Agriculture Microbiology Department, Soil, Water and Environment Research Institute (SWERI), Sakha Agricultural Research Station, Agriculture Research Center (ARC), 33717 Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt,

5 Soil, Water and Environment Research Institute, Sakha, ARC.

6 Department of environmental and biological science, home economy Faculty, Al-Azhar university, Egypt.

7 KFS uni

8 Soil dept. Fac. of Agric Mansoura University , Mansoura . Egypt

9 soil and water dept. faculty of agriculture, Mansoura Uni.

10 Horticulture Dept., Faculty of Agriculture, Kafrelsheikh University, 33516 Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt

11 Arid-land Agriculture Department, College of Agricultural and Food Sciences, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa, KSA

Abstract

By the end of 2019, the universe was woken up to see one of the unprecedented dramatic catastrophes all the over the world, which called the COVID-19 pandemic or coronavirus. This virus already changed the global map and enforced the globe to start a new era that no one can predict the volume of changes worldwide on social, economic and environmental levels. The pollution of soil and air as two compartments of the agroecosystem were and still represent two vital columns of the environment structure. Based on the social distancing, lockdown and quarantine, the air pollution was reduced in several cities worldwide, whereas this relationship on soil as a complex system still needs mor and more investigations. Therefore, the most immediate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on soils and vice versa are mainly depending on the human activities. The managing soils may include both restoring of soils from the virus impacts and to sustain crop yields for long-term sustainability to keep the soil healthy for next generations. Therefore, this review is an attempt to highlight the mutual impact of COVID-19 on pollution of soil and air. Many open questions are needed to be investigated such as what are the expected environmental impacts of COVID-19 on soil and air? Is there any links between air pollution and COVID-19? Is there any role of soil in spreading the COVID-19 pandemic? What about the soil pollution status under COVID-19 outbreak? What is the projected management scenario of soil and air pollution under COVID-19 outbreak? What is the potential presence of COVID-19 and its behavior in the soil?

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