DON’T BURY YOUR HEAD IN THE SAND: The Silent Crisis of the World’s Most Mined Mineral

Sand mining however is not unique to India, from Cambodia to California sand mining has been a rampant practice in resource extraction for decades. Villagers like those in Badhadih are unfortunately not the only peoples to be placed in danger from indiscriminate mining as the foundation of infrastructure, river culverts and ecosystems become so heavily manipulated. 

Across the world, industrial-scale sand mining has for decades contributed to the degradation of wildlife, habitat and infrastructure destruction, and, importantly, to the disruptions of rivers as well as other environmental systems. Near the Kanchi river in India where sand was consistently being illegally extracted, two bridges had collapsed in the Indian village of Budhadih. Sand mining however is not unique to India, from Cambodia to California sand mining has been a rampant practice in resource extraction for decades. Villagers like those in Badhadih are unfortunately not the only peoples to be placed in danger from indiscriminate mining as the foundation of infrastructure, river culverts and ecosystems become so heavily manipulated. 

According to the World Wildlife Fund, sand mining of river deltas such as in Yangtze and Mekong is responsible for exacerbating climate related disasters as it removes the sediment capable of flood resistance W.E.Forum. Adding to this issue, the desert sand found in abundance, is unsuitable for construction use as desert sand grains are too rounded to make for appropriate concrete. The best sand needed for building objectives is thus found underwater, at the bottoms of lakes and rivers as well as along beaches, riverbanks, and deltas. Meeting the raw material needs of urbanization, construction purposes, glass production and modern technology, at 50 billion (estimated) tonnes of sand gravel being mined each year, reducing demand for sand, as well as developing  initiatives to recycle current buildings have become increasingly paramount. 

Coastal communities such as those living in Greenland where the population is made up of up to 90% indigenous Inuit, sand mining is being proposed as an economic initiative which allows for economic biodiversity and greater contributions to the country’s GDP. The development of sand industries may within this context help alleviate the disturbances posed by higher sediment influx resulting from higher levels of glacial meltwater. Within levels maintaining beach nourishment, estimated at 15% of sand availability,  Greenland may provide an example of regulated and sustainable sand extraction WIRED. Supported by over 78% of Greenland’s inhabitants surveyed, controlled sand mining may have positive impacts on communities offering alternative livelihoods, and greater accumulations of capital. 

Greater attempts to regulate sand activity for certain nations leading to price increases, however, run the risk of simply moving extraction efforts to less regulated regions, further concentrating the adverse social, economic and environmental consequences and perpetuates illegal sand “cartels”. Sand Mafias have received headline attention and reflect a very serious conflict embedded in corruption, development needs regarding creating alternative revenue sources and for environmental justice. Disproportionately affecting people of African descent, particularly regarding the coastal erosion present in West Africa, sand mining becomes further relating to the acute issue of environmental inequality. 

Seeing as developing countries are not as able to participate effectively in negotiations of global environmental agreements fearing the risk of environmental responsibilities undermining aspirations for growth, these  nations’ roles in sand discussions thus demands to be larger. The State of Climate Action in Africa in the year 2021 reported that,  by the year 2030, 108-116 million people in Africa are to be exposed to sea level rise risk while contributing only 2-3% of greenhouse gas emissions World Meteorological Organization. These sea level rises along African coastlines which are growing at a faster rate than the global average, contribute to the severity of coastal flooding, erosion and salinity, and changing water bodies ultimately impacting the agricultural sector, ecosystems, biodiversity and the very survival of these populations. This reality therefore grants more reason for sand extraction to take place in regions where sand deposits are influx, capable of regulation and monitoring, where there is potential for sustainable economic growth and where the population themselves are in favor. 

Sand mining, despite its widespread environmental footprint, and ubiquity, permits and regulations are often appointed to local authorities where environmental assessments are rare,  laws are commonly disregarded, while there is no existing international treaty aimed at governing its extraction, usage, or trade, not to mention, absolute absence of sustainable and safe practice protection. The social impacts of sand mining; on livelihoods, security, as well as the disproportionate effects this resource extraction imposes upon communities of color and indigenous peoples, points directly to the need for the development of global initiatives as well as economic assessments targeting and preventing further social, climatic and environmental tragedy and the tragedy of the commons.

'Sand is the material that matters most to what it means for us to be human,'  Nehal El-Hadi.

Written by Veronica Valenti