Desert Soil Recultivation and Monitoring of (Phyto—) Toxicity (DEREMOTOX): Pilot Project in Three Phases Lasting for 4 Years

DEREMOTOX is a research and development (R&D) pilot project for the development of “smarter” technological modules especially for and in small ecosystems and for optimizing the also necessary monitoring and risk assessments. Mainly it deals with the low-risk further development of so-called prototype modules or processes. “Smarter” in this context means: resource-efficient, i.e. with higher resource productivity, long-lived, labour-intensive, low-cost mass production of simple (user-friendly), basically needed (technical) modules, adaptable for various local situations. It is proposed to combine/apply at least the following methods in the selected area for recultivation, the Kalmykian steppe: The (new), successfully tested soil-conditioning process proposed in (Belouschek and Kügler 1992) under the acronym SOREC (soil sealing and recultivation), combined with so-called brush walls or Benjes Hedges (BENHEDGE), and complemented with: Solar cooking and solar water steriliziation at the recultivation location and with the extraction of freshwater from atmospheric water vapour in arid regions.Modified and complemented phyto-toxicological investigations (PTI) as done in the context of the EU research project ECCA (see chapter 2). The PTI part is subdivided into three parts: (1) Analysis of local pollution pattern and its effects. (2) Investigation of pollution transport and deposition mechanisms. (3) Concept for a future pollution control and protection from pollution and other external hazards, e.g. through a greenhouse which should be simultaneously tested.