Every year, we use up roughly 50 billion tonnes of sand and gravel worldwide which is an amount great enough to blanket the whole UK!

The Case of Disappearing Sand

Josna John

Considering the many deserts and beaches across the world, it’s hard to believe that sand is  in short supply. Sand is everywhere: but not just in these alluring landscapes. Cement, concrete, glass, phone screens and even toothpaste are a few of the wonderful works of sand. So why is the abundant grain under threat? 

The Right Type

When it comes to sand, industries all across the world have their favourites. Desert sand is largely used to make glass; filter sand is used in water filtering and last but not least; river sand: the construction industry’s most prized possession. The ‘concrete jungles’ in almost every country are built with this lowly sediment, making it the backbone of entire cities.

However, extracting sand from river beds, banks and floodplains has major environmental implications. When sand miners extract sand from rivers, they create deep holes in the river bed, and these can rarely be refilled at a rate that limits the damage done. In addition, floodplains and river banks play a crucial role in maintaining the biodiversity of river ecosystems; but, to cater to insatiable global demand, sediment is stripped from these areas too. It takes millions of years for such sand to form, yet we can mine it all out in roughly a year. In other words, sand is being extracted faster than it is being replaced: the same fate of almost all natural resources.

The irreversible impacts of such exploitative mining can already be found in several countries. Since the early 1990s, there have been mining operations along Vietnam’s Mekong River, which has dams upstream and the sediment cannot travel down the river. Thus the sand lost in these regions will not be naturally replenished. Similarly, India’s Phalguni River has faced extensive mining operations and this is believed to have caused the Mullarapatna Bridge to collapse. Local politicians blamed the removal of sand from beneath the foundations of the bridge as the cause of its collapse; but this is an unreasonable explanation considering the bridge was only 30 years old, a young age in bridge years. These are but a few issues caused by uncontrolled sand mining and trust me… it gets worse.

Hush Hush

On June 1st 2015, Jagendra Singh, an independent Indian journalist who had been preparing an article on the alleged involvement of a local politician in illegal sand mining, was expecting a meeting with officials. Later that day, Singh was admitted to the hospital, suffering burns covering over 50% of his body. In a dying declaration, Singh accused police officers and the politician’s supporters of entering his home, pouring petrol on him and setting him on fire. Seven days later, due to the severity of his burns, Singh passed away. 

Singh’s death is one of many injustices that repress and silence those who shed light on illegal sand mining networks, committed by those known as the ‘sand mafia’. These criminal groups thrive due to the lack of regulation surrounding sand extraction within various countries and practise unethical mining methods that can destroy environments and displace communities - even killing people who investigate them. Sand mafias operate in several countries such as Nigeria, India and Cambodia, where they resort to extreme methods to mine sand for profit. Not only do they threaten and intimidate communities living around their mining sites, but many gangs also pressure community leaders and even local police officers into turning a blind eye to their looting. In addition, miners work in dangerous conditions as they are often at risk of drowning and, in many cases, are not equipped with the safety equipment required to work safely.

What Can We Do?

It’s a fact that we can’t just stop using sand. It is such an important resource that we simply cannot do without it. Instead, we should limit the extraction of sand wherever possible. This could be done by governments imposing effective regulations and monitoring sand extraction. 

In addition, recycling materials from building rubble can make an immense difference in our consumption of sand. For example, a third of the UK’s housing structures are built from recycled material. Furthermore, as the 2022 UNEP report suggests,”governments, industries and consumers should price sand in a way that recognises its true social and environmental value”. This way, industries will use sand with greater efficiency and also consider the use of recycled materials too.

As long as we learn to use our resources sustainably, considering the environment and society, the issue of sand should not become a heavy burden in the near future.