A Scoping Review of Guidelines for Mercury Limits in Soil, Water, and Air: How Do Brazil’s Standards Compare to International and Developed Country Guidelines?

Mercury is a global problem for both human and environmental health. The Minamata Convention on Mercury entered into force in 2017, joining efforts of 151 countries, mostly in the Global South. Many of them are still in the process of incorporating these international concepts into domestic practice. This includes Brazil, which has been a signatory of the Convention since 2013. Since the country includes 70% of the Amazon, which is the region responsible for approximately 40% of the global emissions and 80% of South America′s emissions, it plays quite an important role in the Convention. For the successful implementation of the Convention, efforts must be made to bridge the gap between policymakers and academic knowledge when setting mercury limits. As a first step, this study followed the PRISMA-ScR guidelines and used references exclusively within this scope to perform a systematic search of guidelines with recommended limits for mercury in soil, water, and air. The documents retrieved by this approach were compared, bringing together insights and recommendations, especially for Brazil and the Amazonian context. While not exhaustive, the number, geographical diversity, and recency of the documents (guidelines) allow for the establishment of benchmarks through comparative analysis and the formulation of recommendations that could potentially be adopted by other Amazonian countries (or even other countries in the Global South), while respecting their specific differences.