Anthropogenic mercury inputs and outputs in China in response to the Minamata Convention on Mercury

Abstract

Anthropogenic activities have created great concern in terms of mercury’s negative impacts on the environment and human health. Implementation of the Minamata Convention on Mercury (MCM) in China will significantly impact its success, because essential to that success is its effective implementation in developing regions, especially those making large contributions to global mercury releases. Thus, Chinese mercury management policies require significant adjustment. To evaluate the effectiveness of the MCM in China, there is an urgent need to develop a time-resolved total mercury inventory that will estimate mercury inputs and outputs by source category. Comprehensive release inventories are needed to assess the impacts of mercury on various ecosystems. This study aimed to address this need by quantifying mercury inputs and outputs according to source category for the years 2016–2019. The total inputs of mercury in 2016 and 2017 were 3,955 t and 3,804 t, respectively. The total output in 2019 is estimated to have decreased by 15 % and 9 % from that in 2016 and 2017, respectively. The results of this study can provide such information, facilitating the creation of strategic management policies for mercury as the MCM is implemented in China.