Brazil could recuperate and decontaminate soil poisoned with mercury, lead, nickel and other metals that are dangerous to human health, using native plants. The technique is known as “phytoextraction” and was developed at the University of Sao Paulo. One idea is to use it to extract mercury and gold in areas of “garimpo”, as informal mining in Brazil is known. “It would be applied to remove both metals, recovering the gold to sell it and thus pay for the costs of the process,” Fabio Moreno, whose doctorate on this issue won an award, told Tierramérica.

The families who have settled on contaminated land could be trained to use the technique and thus obtain additional income, “closing the triangle of sustainability with social, environmental and economic benefits,” said Moreno.

The species that absorb metals are found in mining areas, and also help reveal the locations of metal deposits in the first place.